Initially in position to represent the 27th Legislative District, Assemblyman Brendan Gill of Montclair tonight decided to end his troubled bid for the assembly.

After some tumult, the Democrats made good on a deal struck just prior to the meeting and backed a ticket composed of John McKeon for senate, Alixon Collazos for Assembly and Rosaura Bagolie for Assembly.

The joint Democratic Committees of Essex and Passaic counties initially affirmed McKeon for the senate seat.

There was no real drama there.

McKeon faced no opposition.

Then Gill bowed out, prompting questions about whether his wife could simply replace him.

She could, apparently.

So, it was McKeon and Collazos.

Then procedurally the committee found itself scrambling to paste together the remaining

Assembly seat on the squad out of:

Rosaura Bagolie and Craig Stanley

Finally, Bagolie secured the second seat for the assembly, by a vote of 107-59 over Stanley.

McKeon

Collazos

Bagolie

The night immediately presented a surprise in the form of the shape-shifting Gill-Collazos household.

Challenges.

People in powerful places trying to make it look like nothing was amiss.

People who aren’t in powerful places trying to be powerful by projecting chaos.

Something clearly was at least awry, going all the way back to when the party ham-handedly offloaded Tom Giblin and – in the name of diversity – supplanted him with Collazos – wife of Brendan Gill – only to confront the retirement of Dick Codey earlier this month.

Gill jumped in as the candidate, his wife suddenly out.

Tonight, Gill was out, and Collazos apparently back in.

Livingston wanted in, but now the ticket couldn’t absorb another white male, not with McKeon for senate, and Gill in for Collazos.

Hence, Bagolie – a Latina from Livingston.

It was theatrical, but not in a politically desirable sense.

The people who wanted to blame Gill had to acknowledge those other factors, which contributed to districtwide mayhem.

Finally, the swarm of intrigue around Gill – an Essex County commissioner and advisor to Governor Phil Murphy – apparently proved too much to bear.

He wised up, someone opined.