Nick Cuozzo (MPP ’14) wins Republican Primary for Somerset County Commissioner to take on two-term Democratic incumbent Melonie Marano.
“I am looking forward to building on the momentum and great enthusiasm our campaign generated this past year,” Cuozzo said. “I will continue to make the case for a more affordable Somerset County, to fight overdevelopment that harms our communities and our environment, and to prioritize public safety and security for all residents.”
Marano first ran countywide in 2007 when faced Republican Pat Walsh in a race for an open seat on the all-Republican Somerset County freeholder board; the incumbent, Denise Coyle, was seeking a State Assembly seat. Walsh was the mayor of Green Brook and Marano was a township committeewoman.
In an unexpectedly close race, Walsh defeated Marano by 1,867 votes, 51.5% to 48.5%. After Democrats won control of Green Brook in 2008 for the first time in 46 years – a close race decided after the counting of provisional ballots – and Marano became mayor in 2009; she lost re-election later that year.
Democrats ousted two Republican freeholders in 2018; the following year, Marano launched a rematch against Walsh, by then a four-term incumbent, and won by a narrow 341 votes, 50.2%-49.8%. That gave Democrats their first majority since they flipped control in 1964 for one year.
In 2020, Democrats flipped the last two county commissioner seats. They won the county clerk post in 2017, sheriff in 2018 and surrogate in 2019.
When Marano first ran in 2007, Somerset County had 14,590 more Republicans than Democrats. By 2019, there were 17,942 more Democrats than Republicans. Now, Democrats have a voter registration edge of 26,512.