Brian Hughes

Republicans controlled the Mercer County Executive's office from 1979 until 2003, when Catherine DiCostanzo lost by just 1,673 votes (49%-47%) to Democrat Brian Hughes. Four years later, Hughes seems like a safe bet for re-election despite a seemingly strong GOP challenger: Janice Mitchell Mintz, who served in Governor Christine Todd Whitman's cabinet as Commissioner of Personnel, and as Assistant Counsel to Governor Thomas Kean. The 48-year-old lawyer and Republican State Committeewoman is smart, articulate, and has enough contacts to raise a competitive warchest. She has competitive candidates running at the top of her ticket: Bill Baroni, who can potentially win Hamilton and West Windsor by huge pluralities; Jennifer Beck in East Windsor and Hightstown; and Robert Martin, who is running an aggressive and well-financed race in District 15, which includes the rest of Mercer County.

But after six months as a candidate, Mintz's campaign is going nowhere.

Turnout was a factor for the Easter weekend Democratic convention to choose an Assembly candidate in the fourteenth district: about one-third of the elected Democratic County Committee did not participate.  The nomination of labor leader Wayne D'Angelo as the Democratic candidate for State Assembly in the fourteenth district represents a clear victory for three key supporters: Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, Hamilton Township Mayor Glen Gilmore and Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes.  The trio backed D'Angelo, viewed by Democrats involved in the upcoming legislative campaigns as the strongest candidate, in his 41 to 37 win over Hamilton Democratic Municipal Chairman Daniel Benson, a former Council President and an unsuccessful Assembly candidate in 2005.   Greenstein, gets the running mate she wanted after suffering through two previous campaigns with candidates she did not get along with.

A key fundraiser for possible presidential candidate/ex-Virginia Governor Mark Warner was in New Jersey -- now an early primary state -- last week to raise money for Forward Together, Warner's PAC. Among the attendees at the event -- organized by Kerry '04 New Jersey Co-Chairman John Graham, lobbyist Michael Kempner and Democratic National Committeeman Alfred DeCotiis and featuring former Virginia Lt. Governor Donald Beyer), were Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, former Congressman Herbert Klein, and Kerry '05 fundraiser Zenon Christodolou. Warner will be in New Jersey on June 20 to raise money for Speaker Joe Roberts and the Assembly Democrats, and for his own PAC at Kempner's firm, MWW.

Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore says that "although it is too early to formally declare my candidacy for a third term as Mayor of Hamilton, I fully expect to make that declaration sometime next year. Further, I look forward to running on the Democratic ticket with my good friend Brian Hughes as he runs for reelection as the County Executive." But Gilmore has declined to rule out a bid for the 14th district State Senate seat held since 1991 by Republican Peter Inverso.

Mercer County Democratic Chairman Richard McClellan strongly deny rumors that County Executive Brian Hughes's illness might force him to step down before the end of his term, and says that he met with Hughes this morning to talk about his campaign for re-election in 2007.

There has been considerable buzz in recent weeks about a Hughes resignation; the County Executive underwent brain surgery in late 2004 to treat trigeminal neuralgia, a disorder that causes intense facial pain. McClellan says that the rumors are "the product of Republican gossip in the county that is aimed not only at the County Executive, but at driving wedges between the party leadership. Each time one of these stories comes back to me, it always has two parts. The first is that Brian is resigning and the second is always that the fix is in for this or that leader to replace him."

Indeed, the specualtion has centered around Hughes' resigning and Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore running for County Executive at a Special Election Convention and in a November 2006 Special Election. Gilmore's resignation as Mayor would have triggered a Special Election to replace him in Hamilton.

"With the Democrats in Mercer in total control of County government for the first time in a few decades, and no likely prospects for that to change in the immediate future, I suspect the whole thing is wishful thinking on the part of a small minority of Republicans who make it a habit of posting bizarre theories on the NJO Bulletin Board," said McClellan. Democrats have a nearly 2-1 edge in voter registration. Last year, County Clerk Catherine DiCostanzo, the last GOP countywide official, lost re-election by 230 votes and Jon Corzine carried the county with 59% of the vote.

Hughes has over $125,000 in his campaign account, and has scheduled fundraisers in April, May and June.

Republicans had expected to win the Governor's race in 1961, when Democrat Robert Meyner was retiring after two terms. Their candidates was James Mitchell, a Democrat-turned-Republican who had served as U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Dwight Eisenhower. He won a multi-candidate GOP primary against Walter Jones, the State Senator from Bergen County.

Mitchell had begun his political career in 1933 as a New Deal Democrat, working for President Franklin Roosevelt's administration as the head of the New Jersey Relief Administration's Union County office. He later went to Washington as head of labor relations for the U.S. Army Construction Program and became Director of Personnel for the U.S. Department of War in 1942. After World War II, Mitchell returned to New Jersey to head the personnel department at Bloomingdales, and contined to work for the Army in Germany and Korea. He became a national leader of Democrats for Eisenhower in the 1952 campaign; after Eisenhower's election he became the the Assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor. Ten months later, Eisenhower appointed Mitchell to his cabinet, where he served until January 1961.

In the general election, Mitchell faced 52-year-old Richard Hughes, a former Superior Court Judge and federal prosecutor who became the compromise choice of Democratic party leaders. Hughes, the father of Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes and former gubernatorial candidate Michael Murphy, had served as Mercer County Democratic Chairman and had lost a bid for Congress 23 years earlier. For the first time, two Roman Catholic candidates faced off in a campaign for statewide office in New Jersey.

Hughes proved to be a tremendous campaigner, while Mitchell was forced off the campaign trail for several weeks that fall after breaking his leg. Hughes won by 34,920 votes, a 50%-49% margin. Hughes went on to win a landslide re-election in 1965, and served as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979.

Mitchell returned to the private sector after the election and died of a heart attack on October 19, 1964. He was 63-years-old. Had Mitchell won the gubernatorial election, he would have become the first Governor of New Jersey to die in office since William Livingston, the state's first Governor, in 1790. Mitchell would have been succeeded by the State Senate President, 42-year-old Charles Sandman of Cape May County. Sandman lost Republican primaries for Governor in 1965 and 1969; he upset incumbent Governor William Cahill in the 1973 primary, but lost the general election to Brendan Byrne by 721, 378 votes.

Footnote: Hughes had been serving as a County Court Judge when Republican Governor Alfred Driscoll appointed another New Jersey Democrat, William Brennan, as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Driscoll then named Hughes to replace Brennan on the Superior Court. Eisenhower later nominated Brennan for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Hughes' campaign for Governor was launched by law partner was Mercer County Democratic Chairman Thorn Lord, a former U.S. Attorney who had run for U.S. Senate against Clifford Case in 1960.

The last time two Democratic candidates won successive general elections in the race for Governor of New Jersey was in 1961, when Richard Hughes, a former Superior Court Judge and Mercer County Democratic Chairman, narrowly (34,920 votes) defeated Republican James Mitchell, who had served as U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Dwight Eisenhower. Hughes, the father of former Morris County Prosecutor Michael Murphy and Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, succeeded Democrat Robert Meyner, who had served eight years as Governor. Historically, New Jersey voters have preferred to follow Democratic Governors with Republicans and vice-a-versa. In the last fifteen gubernatorial elections when an incumbent was not a candidate, the party out of power won twelve times.

Of the 6,000 absentee ballots cast in Ocean County, 1,000 have been flagged as coming from deceased voters, says Rick England, who is Doug Forrester's campaign manager. "No wonder the AG's office didn't want to turn over the list," England told PoliticsNJ.com. But Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, a Democrat, says that the Board of Elections has not found "one case of fraud" among 4,919 absentee ballots requests. "This was a hollow tactic of the Republicans crying wolf on the supposition that the Democratic Party is out to steal the election," said Hughes, referring to a NJGOP lawsuit. "IIt cost our taxpayers precious resources in staff time that should have been used to serve the needs of the public."