Mendham Woman Appointed To Bucco's Former Assembly Seat

MENDHAM, NJ — Aura Dunn, from Mendham Borough, has been appointed to fill the Assembly seat vacated by now-Sen. Anthony Bucco.

Dunn was selected by members of the Morris County Republican Committee at a special convention to fill the 25th district seat until a special election can be held during the November 2020 general election. She will serve for the remainder of Bucco's current term, as well as the first year of the term he was just elected to.

She won the election with over 70 percent of the vote, Insider NJ reported. Bucco did not offer an endorsement at the convention.

Dunn has extensive experience in politics, including stints as the District Director and Domestic Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans' Affairs Committee, and as a budget analyst on education policy for the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. Senate.

Her local community service experience includes serving on the board of the Morris County Habitat for Humanity and the Morris County Mental Health Addictions Services advisory board. She was a member of the Mendham Borough Planning Board, and worked on the Jersey Battered Women's Service Crisis Response Team with the Mendham Borough Police Department.

The appointment brings to an end a long election season in New Jersey's 25th District. What began as a typical election in the North Jersey district was turned on its head when the long serving Sen. Anthony R. Bucco died unexpectedly in September. The younger Bucco vacated his Assembly seat when he was appointed to his late father's seat in the Senate. That put Bucco in the unusual position of running for a position he knew he would never fill.

Bucco's running mate, Denville councilman Brian Bergen, will join Dunn in the Assembly.