Morris Township Mayor Jeff Grayzel, who spent years working to flip the Township committee from red to blue, says he will forgo a local re-election bid this fall in hopes of unseating state Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25th Dist.).
Grayzel plans to run on a ticket with Mountain Lakes Deputy Mayor Lauren Barnett and Wharton Councilwoman Patricia Veres, who plan to challenge GOP Assembly members Brian Bergen and Aura Dunn.
Grayzel’s Senate aspirations fell two votes short last year, when Rupande Mehta of Denville edged him out in a party convention. Grayzel’s ticket must pass muster with Democratic insiders in this weekend’s nominating session, once again to be held online.
Bucco defeated Mehta in a 2020 special election, retaining the seat to which he was appointed after the death of his father, state Sen. Tony Bucco.
Grayzel holds degrees in economics and operations research from Cornell University, with a master’s in industrial engineering from Columbia. After working at Bristol-Myers Squibb in system design, marketing, and international business development, he became president of a private medical device development company.
When he started his political career, Republicans held all five seats on the Township’s governing body. Democrats now hold a 4-1 majority.
Grayzel ran for committee 10 times, winning three separate terms, with three recounts along the way.
Tara Olivo-Moore, who ran unsuccessfully with Grayzel in the 2018 Democratic municipal primary, will seek Grayzel’s committee seat. She’ll run with incumbent Mark Gyorfy, who wound up as Grayzel’s running mate after the split-ticket primary three years ago.
Bucco, a lawyer from Mountain Lakes, Boonton spent a decade in the Assembly before succeeding his father in the Senate.
“We look forward to a spirited campaign,” said Dan Scharfenberger, executive director of the New Jersey Senate Republican Majority, in a statement that painted Grayzel as a “rubber stamp for Phil Murphy’s tax increases.”
This story has been updated with information about Tara Olivo-Moore’s candidacy.
