Rupande Mehta of Denville edged Morris Township Deputy Mayor Jeff Grayzel by two votes in an online runoff election Sunday to get the party line from Morris County Democrats to challenge Republican state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco in this year’s 25th District race.
“It was a hard-fought victory,” Mehta, an analyst for a Fortune 100 company and a former Morris Freeholder candidate, said in a statement.
The election was held online after concerns about the coronavirus closed the Parsippany PAL building where the vote had been scheduled.
There was an “incredibly high turnout,” with roughly 90 percent of eligible municipal Democratic committee members casting online ballots, according to the Morris County Democratic Committee.
“We are prepared to stand behind Rupande in her quest to defeat Senator Bucco,” the county committee said on its Facebook page.
The outcome “shows the county committee members are most concerned with the issues that matter to LD-25 residents,” Mehta said.
“As I have done since the start of my campaign, I will continue to listen to what matters to you. I am grateful to your belief in me and my campaign. I look forward to the Democratic party being united in support of the entire ticket in November,” she said.
Grayzel expressed disappointment, while noting he only entered the campaign two months ago, 11 months after Mehta.
“I had a lot of catching up to do in a short time. Good luck to Rupande in what will be a very,very tough election battle this year,” said Grayzel, who helped flipped Morris Township’s governing body from Republican to Democratic control last year.
While he’s sure the future holds other opportunities for him, Grayzel said right now he’s shifting attention to protecting Morris Township from the spreading coronavirus.
“The results of this nominating process pale against what lies ahead for all of us in our battle against COVID-19,” Grayzel said.
RANKED ELECTION
It was a ranked election, with voters selecting their first, second, and third choice. Only the first choices were counted in the first round, which required a majority for victory.
Mehta and Grayzel each garnered 105 votes, (37.4 percent apiece) in round one, with attorney Cliff Dawkins of Rockaway getting 71 votes (25.3 percent).
In the second round, Mehta got 136 votes to Grayzel’s 134, giving her a razor-thin 50.4 percent majority, to the runner-up’s 49.6 percent.
The county committee thanked Grayzel and Dawkins for their “spirited campaigns.”
Both of those candidates agreed not to mount primary challenges if they lost Sunday’s party vote.
Chester farmer Darcy Draeger, meanwhile, will challenge Republican state Assemblywoman Aura Dunn in that 25th District contest.
Bucco and Dunn were appointed to their respective positions by the GOP after Bucco’s father, state Sen. Tony Bucco, died last September.
Mehta is an immigrant from India who became a U.S. citizen in 2017. She ran for freeholder a year later.
A former fellow of the Rutgers Eagleton Institute, Mehta holds an MBA and a master’s in public administration and is a member of the Denville Municipal Alliance and Green Sustainability Committee. Mehta is married and has a daughter.
