Garden State Equality Action Fund: First Round of Endorsements for 2026 Election

ASBURY PARK, NJ — Today, the Garden State Equality Action Fund announced its first round of endorsements for this year’s consequential midterm elections. This initial list features 79 pro-equality candidates vying to represent New Jerseyans across municipal, county, and federal government, as well as school boards around the state. 

“While we’ve seen that some candidates nationally have caved to a perceived influence demanding that they shamelessly use our trans community in a cruel and pointless game of diminishing returns,” said Lauren Albrecht, Senior Director of Advocacy & Organizing. “Each candidate on this list has pledged to stand up for our trans youth, fight dehumanizing federal law, push pro-equality policy forward locally, and engage in thoughtful dialogue with our community.”

“We want to thank everyone who’s applied for our endorsement and taken the time to engage in thoughtful dialogue. Our community deserves unequivocal allyship and representation and so our endorsement process must meet the moment,” said Brielle Winslow-Majette, acting Executive Director.

Garden State Equality has also published a Voters for Equality Toolkit to assist New Jersey voters when they go to the polls in a few weeks.

Below is the first round of endorsements. The most up-to-date list of endorsements can be found here.

Congress

Candidate	Congressional District
Donald Norcross*	1
Zack Mullock	2
Herb Conaway*	3
Rachel Peace	4
Josh Gottheimer*	5
Frank Pallone Jr.*	6
Rebecca Bennett	7
Rob Menendez*	8
Nellie Pou*	9
LaMonica McIver*	10
Analilia Mejia*	11
Adam Hamawy	12
Cory Booker*	U.S. Senate

(*Incumbent)

Congressional candidates can apply here to be considered for the second round of endorsements.

Municipal & County

County	Candidate	Office	Governing Body
Atlantic	───	───	───
Atlantic	Kyle Gornick	County Commissioner	County of Atlantic
Burlington	───	───	───
Burlington	Quinton Law	Councilmember	Moorestown Town Council
Burlington	Tom Bader	Councilmember	Moorestown Town Council
Burlington	Terrance P. Benson Sr	Committee Member	Lumberton Township Committee
Essex	───	───	───
Essex	Medinah Muhammad	Essex County Commissioner, District 3	County of Essex
Essex	Justin Goldsman	Councilmember	West Orange Township Council
Essex	Bill Brazell	Committee Member	Millburn Township Committee
Essex	Victor DeLuca	Committee Member	Maplewood Township Committee
Essex	Christine McGrath	County Commissioner – At Large	County of Essex
Essex	Deb Engel	County Commissioner	County of Essex
Hunterdon	───	───	───
Hunterdon	Jason Blazakis	Hunterdon County Commissioner	County of Hunterdon
Hunterdon	John Kashwick	Councilmember	Township of Clinton Common Council
Hunterdon	Caitlin Giles-McCormick	County Clerk	County of Hunterdon
Hunterdon	Susan Engelhardt	Mayor	Borough of Flemington
Hunterdon	Rachael White	Committee Member	Raritan Township
Mercer	───	───	───
Mercer	Crystal Feliciano	At-Large Councilmember	City of Trenton Council
Mercer	Diane Gerofsky	County Surrogate	County of Mercer
Mercer	Bonne Giglio	Council Member	Lawrence Town Council
Monmouth	───	───	───
Monmouth	Jeremy Seideman	Committee Member	Middletown Township
Monmouth	Amy Quinn	Mayor	Asbury Park City Council
Monmouth	Erica DeKranes	Council Member	Allentown Borough Council
Monmouth	Bryan Acciani	Committee Member	Neptune Township Committee
Monmouth	Arlan Feiles	Council Member	Borough of Matawan Council
Monmouth	Danielle Mastropiero	Council Member	Keyport Borough Council
Monmouth	Pamela Renee	Council Member	Neptune City Council
Monmouth	Alyson Forbes	Council Member	Atlantic Highlands Borough Council
Monmouth	Sofia J. Ugarte	County Commissioner	County of Monmouth
Monmouth	Anthony L. Cherry	County Surrogate	County of Monmouth
Monmouth	Kathleen McNamara	Mayor	Borough of Keyport
Monmouth	Chelsey Tanner	County Comissioner	County of Monmouth
Morris	───	───	───
Morris	Ahmad Saleh	Committee Member	Hanover Township Committee
Morris	Chris Russo	Morris County Commissioner	County of Morris
Morris	Ana Duarte McCarthy	Committee Member	Bernards Township Committee
Morris	Krista Seanor	Council Member	Dover Town Council
Morris	Sandra Wittner	Council Member	Dover Town Council
Morris	Elizabeth Tapia	Council Member	Dover Town Council
Morris	Nicholas Eck	Council Member	Chatham Borough Council
Morris	Arianna “Sophia” Hull	Council Member	Chatham Borough Council
Morris	Benjamin Weisman	Council Member	Boonton Town Council
Ocean	───	───	───
Ocean	Leah Poinsett (Dani)	Committee Member	Little Egg Harbor Township Committee
Ocean	Christina Mertz	Council Member	South Toms River Borough Council
Ocean	Brett Murphy	Committee Member	Lacey township
Ocean	Gabriel Franco	Committee Member	Little Egg Harbor Township Committee
Somerset	───	───	───
Somerset	Douglas Herring	Committee Member	Montgomery Township Committee
Somerset	Patricia Taylor Todd	Committee Member	Montgomery Township
Somerset	Melissa Bellamy	Council Member	Manville Borough Council
Somerset	Daryl Eisenberg Knegten	Mayor	Watchung Borough
Somerset	Suezette Given	Council Member	Borough Council of North Plainfield
Somerset	Elizabeth Graner	County Commissioner	County of Somerset
Somerset	Joan Bannan	Committee Member	Bernards Township Committee
Somerset	Samantha Hand	Committee Member	Hillsborough Township Committee
Somerset	Steven McIntyre	Council Member	North Plainfield Borough Council
Union	───	───	───
Union	Ray Giacobbe	Mayor	City of Rahway

Municipal and County candidates can apply here to be considered for the second round of endorsements.

Board of Education

County	Name	School District
Bergen	───	───
Bergen	Christian M. Nowell	Fort Lee
Burlington	───	───
Burlington	Tracy Fox	Evesham Township
Burlington	William Thompson	Evesham Township
Burlington	David Bock	Evesham Township
Essex	───	───
Essex	Kevin Diaz	South Orange-Maplewood
Essex	Liz Callahan	South Orange – Maplewood
Essex	Will Meyer	South Orange-Maplewood
Middlesex	───	───
Middlesex	Nicole Longoria Stanio	Highland Park
Monmouth	───	───
Monmouth	Takiya Foster	Asbury Park
Monmouth	Cary Dym	Asbury Park
Monmouth	John (Johnny) Walker	Asbury Park
Morris	───	───
Morris	Jennifer Hernandez	Morris
Union	───	───
Union	Jansel Fuentes Jimenez	Plainfield

Board of Education candidates can apply here can apply here to be considered for the second round of endorsements.