Two young candidates seek local office in Democratic primaries
wo young candidates running in the Democratic primary for local office are worth watching on Tuesday: Max Kravitz, a 20-year-old community activist seeking a seat on the Maplewood Township Committee, and Amanda Baumunk, a 17-year-old high school student who is on the ballot for township committee in Montgomery.
Kravitz faces Jane Collins-Colding, a businesswoman who is the choice of the local Democratic organization for the seat of Deborah Engel, who is not seeking re-election. Collins-Colding grew up in Liberia and Kenya and emigrated to the U.S. at seventeen. She is the mother of five and has fostered another twenty children.
Already a veteran local volunteer, the Columbia High School Class of 2023 graduate has the endorsement of Engel and former Mayor Frank McGehee. He also has a political pedigree: his grandfather’s brother was Bertrand Spiotta, who spent twelve years as mayor (then called Village President) of South Orange.
SOMA Action, a grassroots progressive group, has endorsed Steve Fulop for governor and Assemblywoman Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood) and Newark West Ward Democratic Municipal Chairman Chigozie Onyema for State Assembly, but did not endorse any candidates for township committee.
https://newjerseyglobe.com/campaigns/two-young-candidates-seek-local-office-in-democratic-primary/