June 3, 2009 - 3:44pm
Inside Edge

Rising Star Alert: Mendy Fisch

Impressing even some of the Democrats who opposed him was Mendy Fisch, a 20-year-old Princeton University sophomore who came within 63 votes of ousting Princeton Borough Councilman Kevin Wilkes in the Democratic primary.  Wilkes beat Fisch 472-409, with Jenny Crumiller finishing first with 531 votes.  Fisch made it a race by securing 193 absentee ballots, mostly from Princeton students who voted before they left campus last week.  (Crumiller received 30 absentee votes and Wilkes got 9.)  If Fisch had been able to get all the students who requested absentee ballots to return them, he would have won the nomination - which is tantamount to election in this heavily-Democratic municipality.

Fisch also secured two endorsements that were impressive for a candidate challenging the Democratic organization: former Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand and former Democratic State Chairman (and Princeton resident) Tom Byrne

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.