Saturday, October 24, 2015

District 22 Assembly Race

Some Assembly candidates asked me recently whether I would be writing about the District 22 race. I said no, my blog is hyperlocal and only concerned with Plainfield school board and City Council races. But then I was feeling somewhat remiss, since three of the four have blogs and I have to give them credit for being in the blogosphere. (Although as we have been told, nobody reads the blogs.)

I also realized I don't even know much about District 22. It contains parts of three counties and voters choose two representatives for two-year terms. The U.S. Census released 2014 population estimates in May, so you can get an idea of how many residents the Nov. 3 winners will represent in the Assembly.

District 22
(Middlesex, Somerset and Union)

Municipalities and U.S. Census Estimated 2014 Population

Clark - 15,460
Dunellen - 7,417
Fanwood - 7,657
Green Brook - 7,252
Linden - 41,651
Middlesex - 13,888
North Plainfield - 22,029
Plainfield - 50,955
Rahway - 28,528
Scotch Plains - 24,086
Winfield - 1,502

Total Population 220,425


As for registered voters, I could only find town-by-town affiliation statistics for Union County municipalities. They are all listed at the Union County Board of Elections website. The state Division of Elections has gross numbers by district, and lists 121,386 registered voters for District 22. There are 55,289 unaffiliated, 50,323 Democrats, 15,696 Republicans and a smattering of other parties listed.

Within Union County, the largest numbers in most municipalities are the unaffiliated voters. Plainfield and Linden are Democratic strongholds.

So that is some background.There are only four candidates for the two District 22 seats. Democrat Jerry Green has held his Assembly seat since 1992. His running mate James Kennedy is a former mayor of Rahway. Republican William "Bo" Vastine ran for an Assembly seat in 2009. His running mate, William Michelson, is making his first run for an Assembly seat.

The blogs:

William Michelson's blog

Bo Vastine's blog

Jerry Green's blog

Remember to vote on Nov. 3!

--Bernice

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