By Donald Gilpin

In a closely contested Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) election, two challengers, Eleanor Hubbard and Adam Bierman, and an incumbent, Beth Behrend, have won the three available seats, defeating two-term incumbent Michele Tuck-Ponder and challenger Rene Obregon Jr.

Provisional and late mail-in ballots are still being counted, and the outcome will not be official until November 22, when Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello intends to certify the results.

Hubbard was the top vote-getter with 4,120 votes (24.98 percent), followed by Behrend at 3,369 (20.43 percent), Bierman at 3,276 (19.86 percent), Obregon 3,215 (19.49 percent), and Tuck-Ponder 2,514 (15.24 percent).

Princeton voters also approved the PPS $13 million facilities bond proposal by a 70.6 percent to 29.4 percent margin.

Election Day, November 7, was a big day for Democrats locally, in the 16th district where they won senate and assembly seats, in several Mercer County races, and statewide, where they reinforced their longtime control of the New Jersey legislature,

In a year where the Princeton school district faced a number of upheavals, from the sudden and controversial dismissal of the Princeton High School principal in March to the resignation of the superintendent last month, there were differing interpretations of the election results and what the Princeton voters were saying is open to debate.

Obregon, who fell just short of winning the third place spot, read the election outcome as “a pretty clear message to the current  BOE that their direction of travel, communication, transparency, and recent decisions is not aligned with the broader community.”

In a November 11 email he went on to cite statistics (that have shifted slightly as the count continued over the past four days) to support his point. “One incumbent was overwhelmingly voted out with 28 percent loss from the last challenger (myself) who did not get elected,” he wrote. “Even the one incumbent who was reelected was only reelected by a small margin (4.3 percent over myself and only two percent over the  No. 2 challenger Adam Bierman). The lead winner/challenger (Eleanor Hubbard) beat the reelected incumbent by 23 percentage points and the other incumbent by 39 percentage points.”

BOE member Jean Durbin, who did not run for another term and will step down at the end of the year, did not see the election results as a negative reflection on the incumbents.  Speaking as an individual, not as a BOE member, Durbin noted, “It would be easy to think the results of this School Board election speak to a general

anti-incumbent sentiment, but I’m not sure it’s that easy (or true), given Beth Behrend’s reelection.”

She continued, “I think the majority of voters in this town are thoughtful and used their votes to support individuals who demonstrated a desire to support the needs of the students and our district overall after a tumultuous couple of years.” 

Durbin emphasized that the BOE is “limited in both speech and action,” constrained by many different laws and codes and contractual obligations, and can “implement policy to ensure that the schools are well run — but they don’t run the schools.”

Tuck-Ponder, noting that she was the top vote-getter in the election three years ago but came in last this year, speculated that “the majority of voters had different motivations and priorities in this election.”

The only African American BOE member, Tuck-Ponder said, “My platform of ‘Equity and Equality’ clearly did not resonate with voters as it has in the past. I am concerned about the absence of racial diversity on the BOE, but I am hopeful that the members, both old and new, will address ongoing disparities in PPS.”

Hubbard, the top vote-getter, saw a number of positive messages in the Princeton election results. “I was heartened by the easy passage of the referendum,” she wrote. “To me, that signals that our community stands firmly behind our public schools, despite the corrosive effect of pandemic closures and the controversies of the last few years. We are a diverse community, but valuing public education is a common thread.”

She continued, in her November 12 email, “As a candidate I drew support from the widest range of constituencies because I favor approaches that benefit everyone, including our most vulnerable students: steady, positive leadership; careful planning; and excellent curriculum and instruction. People in our community don’t agree on everything, but there is a lot of common ground because we all care about the kids. With humility, cooperation, and hard work, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to build on that common ground and make incremental, positive progress for our children.”

Pamela Strum, parent of two PHS students and a speaker at a number of rallies and BOE meetings during the past year, was less optimistic, citing mistakes made by the Board and claiming that they had “wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars,” had “created an environment of secrecy,” and had “lost the trust of many in our community.” She wrote in an email, ”I would like to know what they are going to do to regain our trust.”

Behrend, who will be serving her third three-year term on the BOE, acknowledged the challenges going forward. “We have critical work ahead, as a Board and as a community, in navigating both growth and fiscal sustainability,” she wrote. “I look forward to continued progress with my colleagues, in collaboration with community partners, in meeting the needs of all of our students — with Eleanor Hubbard and Adam Bierman bringing their perspectives and experience to the team.”

Bierman emphasized, “The issues we’ve raised will keep guiding my advocacy for accountable, student-focused leadership,” and thanked voters for their support and engagement. He declined to comment further, however, until the vote counting is complete and the results are certified.

In the 16th legislative district race for New Jersey state senate, incumbent Democrat Andrew Zwicker defeated his Republican challenger Michael Pappas by 31,955 votes (55.4 percent) to 24,889 (43.1 percent), with Libertarian Richard J. Byrne running a distant third, 850 votes (1.5 percent), according to the latest unofficial tallies from the Associated Press.

With two positions up for grabs in the state assembly 16th district, incumbent Democrat Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis, also a Democrat, outdistanced their Republican rivals, Grace Zhang and Ross Traphagen.  Most recent unofficial counts indicate that Freiman has 31,501 votes (27.8 percent), Drulis  30,995 (27.4 percent), Zhang 25,547 (22.5 percent), and Traphagen 25,279 (22.3 percent).

In the race for Mercer County executive, taking the seat that Brian Hughes has held for the past 20 years, Democrat Dan Benson coasted to victory with a lead so far of 46,703 (69.60 percent) to 20,401 (30.40 percent) over Republican Lisa Marie Richford.

In the Mercer County sheriff contest, Democrat John “Jack” Kemler has won a fifth term with 46,540 (69.3 percent) votes so far, besting Republican Bryan “Bucky” Boccanfuso with 19,030 votes (28.33 percent), and unaffiliated Drew L. Cifrodelli with 1,591 votes (2.37 percent).

The incumbent Democrats on the Mercer County Board of Commissioners also held onto their seats, as Lucylle Walter and John Cimino received 45,441 (34.33 percent) and 45,450 (34.44 percent) votes respectively to 20,920 (15.80 percent) and 20,558 (15.53 percent) votes respectively for their Republican challengers Joseph Stillwell and Denise “Neicy” Turner.

Unopposed Democratic incumbents David Cohen and Leticia Fraga have successfully reclaimed their seats on Princeton Council for a third three-year term.

Covello reported that the 2023 voting in Mercer County proceeded smoothly, with just a few glitches with the new voting machines. She noted that tech teams from the county election offices “were able to address the problems without issue and get the polls back up and running.”  she is looking forward to certifying the results on November 22 after the counting of the final ballots.