RANDOLPH – Remember, this election is not about gun laws or women’s reproductive rights.

It’s more about trash pickup.

It sounds pretty mundane to be sure, but the speaker, Councilwoman Joanne Veech, was making an important point.

Municipalities deal with issues that impact everyday life – running youth sports programs, overseeing a good library and, yes, collecting garbage.

Veech is one of four Republican council members seeking reelection in this Morris County town – population 26,000.

That brought her and two of her running mates, Mayor Christine Carey and Councilman Joe Hathaway, to a “meet and greet” Wednesday night in a township home. The fourth candidate, Councilwoman Denise Thornton, a detective captain in the county sheriff’s office, was absent because of a work emergency.

The race has huge local significance. Four seats on the now all-Republican 7-person council are up, so control can switch if the entire Democratic ticket wins.

But it’s more than that. The term, microcosm, is overused these days, but in the context of national politics, that’s what the township is.

Randolph is an affluent, suburban community with a well-educated population. In short, it is one of those places where Democrats have been doing better of late.

The stats bear that out.

Joe Biden won here in 2020 by about 2,300 votes over Donald Trump.  Rep. Mikie Sherrill won Randolph – the western-most town in CD-11 – by about 1,500 votes in 2022.

And in last year’s admittedly low-turnout LD-25 election, the Democratic candidates (one Senate and two Assembly) also won here, albeit slightly.  The Republicans, however, prevailed district wide.

One of those Assembly candidates, Jonathan W. Torres, is on the Democratic council ticket. The others are Sandra Fey, Josie Scanlan and William Ball.

With that recent history in mind, Republicans talked to people gathered in a home in the town’s Shongum Lake section about all the good things the township offers.

Mayor Carey talked about “beautiful award-winning parks,” a number of fairs, festivals and similar community events, plus a 16-mile trail system that winds this way – and that way – through the entire town.

Hathaway said the township has stepped up ways to communicate with residents, He spoke of developing a mobile-app that will allow residents to seek info from town officials and also to report problems.

To that end, Carey said she holds weekly sessions at the town library where residents can talk to the mayor about whatever they want.

Veech said plans call for further improving the township’s quality of life by establishing a cultural arts center.

More broadly, the candidates noted that the township has been judged as one of the safest communities in the nation and that the municipal portion of the property tax bill has increased on average by a mere 0.5 percent a year since 2016.

Clearly, Republicans are trying to ward off any potential problems above them on the ballot by stressing a point that has been successful in the past:

Randolph is a great town in which to live. So, why change local leadership?

EDITOR’S NOTE: An upcoming story will focus on the Democratic candidates.