Moore Drops Out of Democratic Council Primary in Princeton

Moore

Princeton Borough Mayor Yina Moore did not file a petition to run in the Democratic primary for the new council of the united Princeton by the 4 p.m. deadline today.

The mayor has not commented on whether she is dropping out of the race altogether and why, or if she might run as an independent. The deadline for independent candidates to file petitions is June 5.

Moore won the election for mayor of Princeton Borough last November, narrowly defeating Republican Jill Jachera in the heavily Democratic town by just 100 votes.

The new mayor recently announced she would not seek re-election as mayor because she wants to focus on consolidation this year. Instead she said she would run for council.

But at the Princeton Community Democratic Organization endorsement meeting on March 3, she was the lowest vote getter among the 10 Democratic council candidates seeking the PCDO endorsement, receiving less than 100 votes.

Nine council candidates are running in the Democratic primary for six seats on the new council:  Borough Councilwomen Heather Howard, Jenny Crumiller, and Jo Butler; Roger Martindell; Township Committeemen Bernie Miller and Lance Liverman; and newcomers Patrick Simon, Scott Sillars, and Tamera Matteo.

Two Democrats have filed for petitions for the mayoral primary race: Township Committeewoman Liz Lempert and Borough Councilman Kevin Wilkes.

The PCDO voted to approve a resolution supporting competitive primary elections in 2008. The resolution calls for the PCDO to “actively promote competitive primaries within the Democratic Party and within our organization, facilitating competition with concrete actions and by creating a social climate where Democratic challengers at all levels are welcomed and encouraged.”

Republican Dick Woodbridge is running unopposed in the Republican mayoral primary. Princeton Township resident Geoff Aton is also running unopposed in the council primary. The Republican municipal committees did not chose a full slate for the council primary, just Aton. In past years the Republicans have often chosen candidates via write-in ballot on primary day, however.