According to the Essex County's unofficial tally, Christy Lazarow and Jessica Almeida are the top vote-getters for the two available spots in the 2020 Democratic Primary for West Caldwell Township Council. Almeida received the most votes with 291. Lazarow came in second with 189 votes. A third write-in candidate, Kevin Catrambone, received 102 votes. Both Almeida and Lazarow campaigned aggressively and were enthusiastically endorsed and supported by the West Caldwell Democrats, a recently-established grassroots group vowing to jump-start activity for the Democratic Party in West Caldwell.
The surge of write-in support for Lazarow and Almeida is just the most recent example of shifting politics in West Caldwell, historically a GOP stronghold. As of February 2020, there are more registered Democrats (2,723) in West Caldwell than registered Republicans (2,533). And those Democrats have started tilting elections in their favor, with West Caldwell voting for Governor Phil Murphy in 2017 and Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill in 2018. In 2019, during a quiet off-cycle election for two State Assembly seats, Democrat Laura Fortgang won the second-most votes in West Caldwell after Betty Lou DeCroce, beating out incumbent Jay Webber.
That trend showed no sign of slowing in 2020. In a primary season where the West Caldwell Democrats sent voter registration forms to over 220 unregistered or new residents, the initial turnout as reported on July 7th favored Democrats (approximately 1,160) over Republicans (approximately 605) by almost 2-to-1. If those numbers hold through the November election, West Caldwell may place a Democrat (or two) on the Township Council for the first time since 1973.
The West Caldwell Democrats is not affiliated with the West Caldwell Democratic County Committee.
