Bucco, Bergen Win Bid For Assembly Seats In NJ's 25th District

Republican State Senator Anthony M. Bucco has been elected to the Assembly, alongside running mate Denville Councilman Brian Bergen.

Bucco and Bergen were elected with 27,438 and 26,134 votes, respectively. Democratic challengers Lisa Bhimani and Darcy Draeger received 24,381 and 23,702 votes each. The results come over a week after polls closed on Election Day, as the race remained too close to call without counting provisional and mail-in ballots.

This creates a highly unusual situation for Republicans: Bucco was appointed to his late father’s senate seat in mid-October, and has already said he will not be accepting the seat in the Assembly. It’s now up to the Morris County Republican Committee to select and appointment a new Assembly representative in New Jersey’s 25th district. The Committee has not responded to questions from Patch about who they are looking to appoint.

It also would have been unprecedented had Bhimani and Draeger been elected. No Democrat has ever been elected to represent New Jersey’s 25th District in the Assembly since the district was created in 1974.

The appointed representative to Bucco's Assembly seat will serve until a special election can be held for the seat in November 2020.

Current Assemblyman Michel Patrick Carroll did not seek reelection this year, choosing instead to run for Morris County Surrogate. He lost in the primary to fellow Republican Heather Darling.

Bucco faced criticism during the campaign from Democrats for running for a seat he knew he would not accept.

The Democratic campaign have not yet issued statements on the results of the election.