Fourteen people filed a total of 1,949 nominating petitions on Sept. 3 to run for six ward council seats in Hoboken’s Nov. 5 municipal election. They include five incumbents, a slate of five people backed by Mayor Ravi Bhalla, and four new independent candidates.
With so many candidates, this year’s election could result in the city’s first runoff since 2009. In the past, Hoboken had runoffs but they were terminated by public referendum in 2012. In 2018, residents voted to reinstate runoff elections.
In the 5th Ward and 6th Ward, three candidates are running, which means if a candidate doesn’t draw more than 50 percent of the vote in those wards, the two top vote-getters would compete in a runoff election in early December.
In 2017, six candidates ran for mayor. Ravi Bhalla was elected with only 33 percent of the vote, leading some to push for the reinstatement of runoffs.
Council candidates
In the 1st Ward, incumbent Michael DeFusco has served on the city council since 2016 and was a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment for five years before that.
He will face Migdalia Pagan-Milano, who is on the “Team Bhalla” ticket. She works for the city’s newly resurrected Constituent Affairs department, and previously worked at the city’s Cultural Affairs Department.
In the 2nd Ward, incumbent Tiffanie Fisher seeks reelection to the council, a seat she’s held since 2016. She served on the city’s zoning board for three years before she was elected to the council. Nora Martínez DeBenedetto, who is on Bhalla’s slate, is vying for the seat. She is a teacher at Kaplan Cooperative Preschool and the coordinator of the city’s Art in the Park program.
In the 3rd Ward, incumbent Michael Russo will defend his seat against Ronald Bautista. Russo entered public service as a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment in 2000 before he was elected to the city council in 2003.
Bautista is a community activist and member of Bike Hoboken. He ran in Hoboken’s 2017 mayoral election.
Bhalla did not select a candidate in the 3rd ward race for his “Team Bhalla” ticket.
In the 4th Ward, Councilman Ruben Ramos seeks reelection. He was elected to the City Council in 2001 and served as a state assemblyman from 2008 to 2013. Bhalla-backed candidate Lisa Sprengle is also running for the seat. She is an attorney, accountant, and a mom who currently works as the controller for a large New York City-based company.
The 5th Ward is the only ward in which an incumbent is not running for reelection. Current 5th Ward Councilman Peter Cunningham announced in July that he would not seek reelection after his 12 years on the council. He said he needed to devote more time to family and his career, noting he won’t “appoint” a successor.
With the seat up for grabs, three candidates have tossed their hats into the ring. They are former chair of the Hoboken Democratic Party Phil Cohen who is on the “Team Bhalla” ticket, as well as independent candidates Timothy Crowell and Nicola Maganuco.
Timothy Crowell did not return a call by press time.
According to the “Nicola for Hoboken” Facebook page, Maganuco is a finance professional who works in regulatory governance as an assistant vice president for a global financial services company in New York City.
In the 6th Ward, Council President Jen Giattino, who was elected to the council in 2011, will face two political newcomers, Frank Rosner, and Bhalla-backed Cristin Cricco-Powell, an executive producer and director of TV shows and documentaries. Rosner is a 40-year Hoboken resident and cofounder of Elysian Charter School.
For updates on this and other stories keep checking www.hudsonreporter.com and follow us on Twitter @hudson_reporter. Marilyn Baer can be reached at Marilynb@hudsonreporter.com.
