Sandra Cunningham

If Sandra Cunningham wins the Democratic State Senate nomination in the 31st district, she would become the first woman to follow her late husband to the New Jersey Senate, and the first widow to take her husband's legislative seat since Mary Scanlon was elected in 1977.

If he loses, Joseph Doria would become the first former Assembly Speaker to lose his Senate seat in a primary since 1953, when Freas Hess was defeated for re-election in the Republican State Senate primary by Malcolm Forbes. The last former Assembly Speaker to lose a State Senate race was Marion West Higgins, the only woman to ever lead the lower house. She was Speaker in 1965, the year she lost a Senate race and the GOP lost both houses of the Legislature.

Sandra Cunningham, the widow the Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningam, is expected to announce her candidacy for State Senator on Thursday at the Liberty House in Jersey City. She will challenge incumbent Joseph Doria in the 31st district Democratic primary, attempting to win the seat her late husband held before his death in 2004. Possible candidates for State Assembly on the Cunningham ticket include former Bayonne Municipal Court Judge Patrick Conaghan (who forced Doria into a runoff last year for Mayor of Bayonne), Jersey City Councilwoman Viola Richardson, Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy, Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop, and Bayonne Councilman Anthony Chiappone, who served in the Assembly from 2004 to 2006 after defeating Doria in the '03 Democratic primary.

The Hudson County Democratic Organization will almost certainly dump Assemblyman Charles Epps from their ticket, but party leaders have not yet agreed on who will replace him. Democrats close to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy (who is expected to become Hudson County Democratic Chairman in June) are pushing Freeholder Jeffrey Dublin for the post, but other Democrats -- especially Assemblyman Louis Manzo -- want former Jersey City Council President L. Harvey Smith, who served briefly in the State Senate (following the resignation of Joseph Charles) and as Mayor of Jersey City (following the death of Glenn Cunningham).

Smith has been angling to run against Healy for Mayor in two years. Healy could use the Assembly seat as a way of ending Smith's City Hall aspirations, or it could backfire by making Smith a more formidable opponent. Smith had the HCDO backing when he lost a 2003 Senate primary to Cunningham, and fared poorly in his bid for Mayor in a 2004 Special Election.

In the 31st district, the HCDO support is no longer tantamount to a primary victory. Sandra Cunningham, the widow of the late Mayor and State Senator, has been mulling a challenge to incumbent Joseph Doria. Possible Assembly candidates on her ticket include Jersey City Councilwoman Viola Richardson, who has a strong base in Ward F and had beaten the organization before, and former Bayonne Municipal Court Judge Patrick Conaghan, who forced Doria into a runoff last year.

Signs supporting Sandra Cunningham for U.S. Senate have been spotted in Jersey City. Cunningham is the widow of former Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham, a political rival of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez. "Overzealous supporters," says a former Cunningham aide. "Look for her to run for State Senate." CLICK HERE