2007 NJ 31st Legislative District State Senate Dem Primary

The 2007 NJ 31st LD State Senate primary, a relatively late addition to the Hudson County Democratic Organization war of 2007 saw widow to former Jersey City Mayor/State Senator Glen Cunningham Sandra Bolden-Cunningham best Assemblyman Louis Manzo with the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization to succeed Incumbent Senator/Bayonne Mayor Joe Doria in the NJ State Senate.

Originally mounting an off the line primary to Joe Doria, a HCDO loyalist, the Senator's retirement due to his age and growing tired of politics brought her into the sphere of influence of the HCDO—with Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy convincing the rest of the HCDO heads, especially State Senator/HCDO Chairman Bernard Kenny to give her and her assembly Running mate Anthony Chiappone the Hudson Democratic Ballot line

Note that whilst Glenn Cunningham was an occasional opponent of the Hudson County Democratic Organization—and especially then U.S. Senator Bob Menendez—Sandra Bolden-Cunningham was quoted as saying that “In life, you work out things with people,”

(a specific reference to her running with L. Harvey Smith, who was barred from attending her husband's funeral due to the adverse feelings between the two men)

The granting of the Hudson County Ballot line to Anthony Chiappone, however, influenced Joe Doria's decision to switch from backing the Hudson County Democratic Organization towards the candidates allied with Stack—with the exception of County executive where he backed the Reelection of Tom Degise.

The context for this being that Chiappone, a councilman in Doria's city of Bayone had been a longtime political foe of the Mayor/State Senator—opposing many a project that he had instituted in Bayonne.

As a result of the aforementioned inclusion of Chiappone, Doria refused to endorse Bolden-Cunningham or the HCDO slate in LD-31, instead backing the slate headed by his Assembly Running mate and ally Louis Manzo, who had floated running for a variety of positions in Hudson County before settling on trying to succeed Doria.

For his part, Manzo—while he & Doria were running for reëlection—also fought to run with Nicholas Chiaravalloti, Senior State Director for U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, being thrown off the line in part because of his run against Bolden-Cunningham and in part because JC Mayor Healy saw him as a rival towards his future reelection prospects.

This influenced the lot of them To side with Brian Stack, who was waging a broader war for control of the HCDO, running with his slogan in the 31st LD and seeking to defeat the HCDO's endorsed candidates.

Moving onto the General election, compared to the 33rd District that was a pure grudgematch, the 31st district race had somewhat more policy substance to it.

In this sense, Bolden-Cunningham claimed that she would focus on crime, housing, and jobs—being the district's 'public servant' not politician. Likewise, Manzo focused on tenant's rights, and reducing property taxes while covering the difference with an increase in the state income tax.

Beyond this, both candidates had differing positions on the legalization of Gay Marriage, with Manzo beleiveing that, due to a state supreme court decision legalizing civil unions no more action on the issue was needed and Bolden-Cunningham supporting full legalization of Gay Marriage.

but this did not mean that the scandals and grudges that are emblematic of Hudson county politics were forgotten, in this race Bolden-Cunningham was hurt by two main scandals, 1) questionable spending by her charitable foundation and 2) having employed convicted rapist Russell Wallace in her campaign.

Likewise, both tried to claim the legacy of popular mayor Glenn Cunningham—with Manzo specifically quipping that he was the true heir because "He picked [Sandra Bolden-Cunningham] to be his wife, and he picked me [Manzo] to be a legislator"

In the end, however, despite a spirited campaign on the part of Manzo, as it so often did in NJ politics, the line won out—handing Sandra Bolden-Cunningham the State Senate seat that her husband held when he died—striking the final blow against Manzo who, after challenging Jerramiah Healy in 2009 for the Jersey City mayoralty, left electoral politics for good.

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