Allison Musante

By: centraljersey.com
Mercer County Freeholder Dan Benson has been chosen as the successor to state Sen. Linda Greenstein’s to represent the 14th district in the Assembly.
The Democratic committees of Mercer and Middlesex counties held a convention on Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel to fill the vacant seat. After three rounds of voting, Mr. Benson beat out West Windsor hopefuls Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and Township Council member George Borek, as well as Mercer County Freeholder John Cimino and Joseph Camarota Jr., a South Brunswick council member.
Mayor Hsueh and Mr. Borek were eliminated in the first round of voting. Mayor Hsueh said he congratulated Mr. Benson and looks forward to working together in the future.
"I wanted the committees to know that West Windsor will not be ignored," he said. "We had 29 members attend, and I think we got the attention of the assembly that West Windsor shows up, we are a player, and we should be recognized as such."
Democratic officials reported that 234 committee members attended the convention – 142 from Mercer County and 92 from Middlesex – though not all voted.
Mr. Borek said Mr. Benson was a smart choice by the committee.
"Dan has a good inkling of what’s important," he said. "As a freeholder, he’s had the opportunity to visit many municipalities, so he can see what the concerns and the issues are (in Mercer and Middlesex counties). We all just have to be unified come November to maintain that seat as a Democratic seat."
Mr. Benson will serve the remainder of Sen. Greenstein’s term and would run for the general election in November to serve a full term. Then-Assemblywoman Greenstein was elected to the senate in November to fill the vacancy created by Bill Baroni. Because Sen. Greenstein served as a Democrat in the Assembly, only Democratic committee members from the towns included in the 14th district were permitted to vote. The district comprises Hamilton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Cranbury, Jamesburg, South Brunswick and Monroe.
Mr. Benson and Mr. Cimino, both of Hamilton, were the final two candidates in the third round, after Mr. Camarota was eliminated in the second round of voting. Mr. Benson won the seat with 112 votes to Mr. Cimino’s 102. Mr. Benson, 34, served as president of Hamilton’s council in 2001, ran against and lost to Sen. Greenstein for the Assembly in 2005, and was re-elected to the Mercer County Board of Freeholders in 2009.