Bloomfield Mayor Mike Venezia doesn’t rule out a run for the Assembly next year in the 34th Legislative District, but in the meantime, he does back the reelection of Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, and supports Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake for the state senate seat.

As for that second Assembly seat: “Right now I’m focused on being mayor,” said the local chief executive, who played a significant role in partnering with Irvington in support of Renee Burgess to take the 28th District Senate seat vacated by Ronald L. Rice.

Next year, the redistricted Bloomfield will reconfigure into the 34th District.

“Once the new year comes, myself and other chairs will figure out who to support [for the second assembly seat,” Venezia told InsiderNJ. “I have not made any decision yet, and right now I am concentrating on the new term.”

First elected mayor in 2014, and successful this year in securing reelection to a third term, he doesn’t rule out a bid for the assembly.  “You should never leave anything off the table,” said the mayor, and added of Timberlake and Caputo, “I support both of them.”

Timberlake has significant Essex County Democratic Committee backing for the senate seat in the new, East Orange-dominant district. Earlier this week, Caputo of Nutley, redistricted from the 28th to the 34th district, announced his own intention to pursue reelection next year to the Assembly.

Last year, Mayor Venezia received unanimous support for his reelection as the Chairman of the Bloomfield Democratic County Committee. Venezia has served as Chairman since 2016, helping lead the party to victories on the local level with full control of the Township Council and to producing large turnouts to help elect representatives such as Governor Phil Murphy, County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and many others.

“I’m honored to continue leading our local Democratic committee forward during a critical year for our party throughout the state as we work to re-elect Governor Murphy and our legislative delegation,” Venezia said last year. “I would like to thank the members of the committee and all residents of Bloomfield for their continued support.”