By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton Democrats Leticia Fraga and David Cohen would appear to have smooth sailing toward winning seats on the Princeton Council now that a potential challenger and fellow Democrat has declined to enter the race., “After consulting with the family I have decided that this will not be the year. I will continue to look forward to running in the coming years,” said Amner Deleon on Friday., This marked the second year in a row that Mr. Deleon considered running for council only to decline to make himself a candidate., The immediate upshot of his decision was to clear the way for Ms. Fraga, who lost her bid for council last year, and Mr. Cohen, a member of the municipal planning board, to have an easy path toward winning seats on the governing body. They are expected to have no opposition in the Democratic primary, which serves as the defacto election in Princeton given how Democrats outnumber Republicans., Princeton Democratic Party chairwoman Scotia W. MacRae said Friday that it was “not likely” that any other candidate would come forward., As a courtesy, Mr. Deleon contacted Ms. Fraga and Mr. Cohen to let them know on Friday that he was not going to run., “I just told him that I understood that it’s not an easy decision to make and that he would know when the time is right for him,” Ms. Fraga said by phone., “From a selfish standpoint, it’s nice to not have to worry about a contested campaign,” Mr. Cohen said., Still, he and Ms. Fraga indicated they would campaign as if they were in a contested race. In theory, Democrats could emerge to file to run before the filing deadline later this year., For Ms. Fraga, she would appear on her way to becoming the first Latina to serve in municipal government., “I never expected it would be something that would be handed to me,” she said in adding she still has to “earn” the council seat., For her part, council President Jenny Crumiller said Friday that she liked both Ms. Fraga and Mr. Cohen, in calling them “independent people.”, Still, the increasing likelihood of an uncontested Democratic primary means the Princeton Council race will have been decided nine months before voters go to the polls., “It’s really grueling to run in a local political campaign,” Ms. Crumiller said in explaining why more people don’t step forward to be candidates.
