WHO’S UP

Anthony Cureton

At a special convention this week, the former Englewood Det. Sgt. won the backing of the Bergen County Democratic Committee by a 4-1 margin in his bid to succeed Mike Saudino as sheriff of Bergen County.

Lou Stellato

The Bergen County Democratic chairman backed Cureton for the office of sheriff, and, on a short runway, more than mustered the support necessary to help his candidate score his organization’s support.

Jack DeLorenzo

The Hasbrouck Heights mayor and retired police captain this week won the backing of the Bergen County Republican Organization and will face Cureton in a Nov. 6th special election.

Jack Zisa

Though he never said so publicly, the Bergen County Republican Organization’s choice of Hasbrouck Heights as the site of a special BCRO convention may have signaled his own preference for DeLorenzo for sheriff. And DeLorenzo won.

Terry West

The respected Mercer County-based operative on Thursday staged a well-attended (and impassioned) progressives’ protest of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

NO MAN’S LAND

Bob Menendez

Two out of three polls this week showed the incumbent U.S. Senator in a dogfight with Republican challenger Bob Hugin, not a good place for a Democrat to be in what is supposedly a blue state. Granted, the state’s most respected pollster rather strenuously objected to one of those polls.

Bob Hugin

The Republican challenger should have been in a position to truly capitalize on dead heat polls but looked less than authentic this week when he failed to authoritatively declare his position on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Phil Murphy

Experts by and large expressed a favorable reaction to the Governor’s venture capital economic plan that he unveiled this week  and a Quinnipiac University Poll showed him with a strong approval rating, but Democratic Party allies braced for what sources said would be a damaging story about the internal dynamics of his administration. That’s in addition to the administration accepting the resignation of former convicted felon Marcellus Jackson, whom Murphy had publicly defended.

WHO’S DOWN

Joe Andl

At a Thursday night meeting, a defensive Burlington County Democratic chairman told fellow party members that he didn’t know about disgraced freeholder nominee George Youngkin’s past, and avoided persistent questions by trying to usher the group into a training session. The Youngkin case prompted renewed irritation among Andl’s intraparty rivals, who want him gone. “Andl and his team snatched defeat from the jaws of victory,” said one municipal chair departing the meeting last night. Watch for a concerted call for his resignation after the election.

Robert Kugler

Seeking the office of sheriff, the Saddle Brook Police Chief this week lost in his bid for the support of the Bergen County Democratic Committee. He’ll run anyway, as an independent.

Josh Welle

The 4th District challenger to incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Smith this week had to spend time explaining the 11th hour resolution of an outstanding tax snafu at Severn Pacific, the Virginia-based company where Welle served as CEO as recently as 2016.

Harry Shortway, Jr.

Hoping to replace Saudino as Bergen sheriff, the Midland Park Mayor lost at the Republican’s special convention to DeLorenzo.

Demetrius Terry

The young Democrat’s decision to back Bob Hugin over incumbent Senator Bob Menendez met with wide derision by his fellow party members.