Surprise? The Artist Baker tosses her chef’s hat in the ring for Morristown mayor

Andrea Lekberg of The Artist Baker with decorations for the 2023 Dia de Los Muertos event. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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Morristown’s worst-kept secret is now official: Pastry chef Andrea Lekberg believes she has the recipe to defeat four-term Mayor Tim Dougherty.

In a social media post on the eve of Martin Luther King Day, the owner of The Artist Baker café ended months of local speculation by announcing her intention to run for mayor as an Independent in November.

Andrea Lekberg launches her 2025 mayoral candidacy in a video from her café, The Artist Baker. Screenshot by Kevin Coughlin

“I’ve been working towards this for a long time now with a clear objective of serving the community that has done so much for me,” Lekberg, 59, said in a short video that promised a campaign website and platform soon.

Term limits and development will be key issues, she told Morristown Green.

“When you have somebody in office for a long time, I feel like things get lopsided,” said Lekberg, who was appointed by Dougherty to the planning board in 2022.

She added she often thinks about the needs of young families moving to town, and “just trying to balance that with development. And, you know, having the town be for the people who live here, and build on that.”

Mayor Tim Dougherty, left, receives congratulations from GOP opponent Rich Babcock. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Mayor Tim Dougherty, left, receives congratulations from GOP opponent Rich Babcock in 2013. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“Everyone has the right to run,” Dougherty, 66, said on Wednesday.

Lekberg said the mayor was cordial and shook her hand at Monday’s MLK Day Interfaith Breakfast.

While Dougherty’s formal announcement is imminent, he  filed months ago to seek a fifth term, running with his “Morristown First” slate of Democratic council incumbents Nathan Umbriac, David Silva and Toshiba Foster.

Republican Andrew DeLaney has declared his council candidacy. Councilman Steve Pylypchuk, a Democrat representing Morristown’s Third Ward, is running for a state Assembly seat in District 25.

Then-Mayor Donald Cresitello cuts ribbon at The Artist Baker in 2008. L-R: Melanie Levitan; the mayor; Andrea Lekberg, her mom Fran Davidson and niece Ana; and Alan Levitan. Photo courtesy of Andrea Lekberg.

A seasoned campaigner and prodigious fundraiser, Dougherty has walloped primary challengers and cruised to four mayoral victories in the solidly Democratic seat of Morris County.

Two Independents (Rebecca Feldman and Robert Iannaccone) and two Republicans (Iannaccone and Alison Deeb) have won council seats during Dougherty’s tenure.

A frequent observer at town council meetings over the last year, Lekberg privately has quizzed numerous local movers and shakers — while declining to go public about her plans.

Andrea Lekberg, and Erica Leahy, pastry chefs at Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen grand opening. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Andrea Lekberg, and Erica Leahy, pastry chefs at Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen grand opening in 2014. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

“Just say I’m working towards a run for public office,” she told Morristown Green last July.

Raised in Chicago, Lekberg trained as an artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Then she turned her attention to the culinary arts at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago.

Lekberg moved to Morristown from South Carolina in 2007 and opened her café on Cattano Avenue a year later.

Andrea Lekberg buries her Takuwe quilt near Wounded Knee massacre site in South Dakota, 2018. Photo courtesy of Andrea Lekberg.

She moonlighted in the pastry kitchen at the former Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in its heyday, and has supported area nonprofits by donating her baked confections at catered events.

Inspired by Mexican sisters who worked in her café, she has organized Morristown celebrations of the Dia de los Muertos holiday.

In 2022, Lekberg was cited by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th Dist.) in her Heroes program for making a difference during COVID.

A citizen of the Lakota Sioux Nation through her maternal line, Lekberg made a somber quilt that is buried near the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

This story has been updated with the mayor’s comments.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Without term limits there’s often a lack of new ideas and creative thinking. Morristown is ready for term limits.

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