See Candidates Challenging Incumbents For Morris Co. Surrogate, Commissioners

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — Four Republican incumbents are looking to retain their seats at the county level when Morris County voters head to the polls for the primary election.

The party primary on June 4 looks to be uncontested, with just one candidate running for each open seat on the Democratic and Republican tickets.

Morris County Commissioners Deb Smith, John Krickus, and Stephen A. Shaw (all Republicans) will face Democratic Party challengers on the ballot. Republican Heather J. Darling, who is the Judge of the Morris County Surrogate Court, all has a candidate opposing her from the other party.

A number of Morris County towns have local elections for township committee or borough council seats coming up, and two have mayoral elections. Mendham Borough has a contested race to determine the two Republican candidates for council.

Parsippany and Morristown do not have any local races coming up, but residents can of course still vote in the primary for New Jersey's U.S. Senate representative and the county races below.

Here are the county office candidates, who are endorsed by their party committees:

Morris County Surrogate (vote for one)

• Republican
  • Heather J. Darling (Inc.) of Succasunna
• Democrat
  • John N. Holly of Boonton

County Commissioner (vote for three)

• Republican
  • Deborah Smith (Inc.) of Denville
  • John Krickus (Inc.) of Long Valley
  • Stephen A. Shaw (Inc.) of Mountain Lakes
• Democrat
  • Jonathan Sackett of Rockaway
  • William "Bud" Ravitz of Morris Township
  • Justin Strickland of Chatham

The candidate field is not yet final, as the petitions must be verified. The deadline for candidates to file a nomination petition for the primary election was Monday at 4 p.m.

The New Jersey primary election is Tuesday, June 4, 2024 with the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Learn more about voting in New Jersey or find your local polling place here.

This story has been updated to correct the residence of candidate Bud Ravitz.