By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
As Princeton Democrats try to recover from the presidential race, they soon will turn their attention to state and local races, including what could be another contested primary for council, in 2017.
The political calendar in Princeton is inverted, so critical decisions get made before the end of March — well before voters go to polls. Before the first bloom of spring, party insiders will endorse candidates and determine their placement on the ballot for the primary — the de facto general election given how many more registered Democrats there are than Republicans.
In 2017, a year in which voters will choose a new governor, incumbent council members and Democrats Jo S. Butler and Bernard P. Miller find themselves up for re-election. The two of them were involved in a bruising council race in 2014, one that highlighted divisions within the local Democratic Party.
As for their plans, neither was saying much, if anything, this week.
“Of course, I’m interested,” Ms. Butler said Tuesday about running for another three-year-term.
“Next year is a long way off at this point,” Mr. Miller said Wednesday.
Both candidates said they still have to decide whether to run or not, with Ms. Butler offering she would make up her mind in January. Yet should one or both of them decline, that would open an opportunity for newcomers to win a seat on a governing body whose composition has changed little since consolidation in 2013.
Already, fellow Democrat Leticia Fraga, who ran for council earlier this year, said Wednesday that “my hat’s in the ring” for 2017. Since losing in the primary, she has made no secret of her plans to try again.
For her part, Princeton Democratic Party Chairwoman Scotia W. MacRae said Wednesday that she has not heard any talk about who might be running next year. She said there is still a hangover from the presidential race.
“People are just exhausted from the presidential election,” she said.
There is recent evidence of candidates making an early announcement to get into the race. It was this time last year when Mayor Liz Lempert announced that she would be running for re-election. As it turned out, no one stepped forward within the party to challenge the incumbent, who enjoyed smooth sailing on her way to winning a resounding victory last week against her Republican opponent.
