Dissident Democrats fall short in Cherry Hill, Gloucester Township

Dissident Democrats in Cherry Hill and Gloucester Township faltered in Tuesday's primary, with none of their council and mayoral hopefuls garnering enough votes to appear on November's ballot.

In Gloucester Township, mayoral hopeful Sam Sweet and three allied candidates for the council had challenged incumbent Mayor David Mayer and his council ticket. In Cherry Hill, four self-described progressives challenged incumbents and party regulars backed by Mayor Chuck Cahn.

In each race in the two Camden County communities Tuesday night, the challengers came up short, according to unofficial tallies.

In Cherry Hill, Cahn's slate — incumbent Council President David Fleisher,  along with council incumbents Carole Roskoph and Carolyn Jacobs and newcomer Sangeeta Doshi — beat out candidates from the Progressive Democrats for Cherry Hill group. The Cahn-backed candidates overcame political newcomers Joshua Hare, Mark Gulbranson, Patricia Magnus, and Scott Soffen.

"There's a great number of people in Cherry Hill who were behind us, people who were looking for a change," Hare said.

Between 150 and 200 people celebrated Tuesday night at a gathering of party leaders and faithful at the Camden Democrat Committee's headquarters in Cherry Hill. Cahn said Tuesday that he didn't believe the progressive push was a referendum on his leadership, adding that he believes his constituents generally are happy.

If elected in November, Doshi would become the first Indian American to be elected to office in South Jersey, according to Democrat Jeff Nash, a Camden County freeholder. The electrical engineer and mother of three came to the United States when she was 2 with her mother, who had fled Pakistan.

"I'm proud to be an immigrant, proud to be an American, and proud to be in Cherry Hill," said Doshi, who turned 51 on Tuesday.

The progressive effort in Cherry Hill stemmed, in part, from concerns about the redevelopment of the suburb and was propelled by worries regarding the national direction of the Democratic Party.

Frederick Dande, who ran for the New Jersey Assembly's Sixth District nomination backed by the Progressive Democrats for Cherry Hill, finished a distant third against the district's two incumbents, Louis Greenwald and Pamela Lampitt.

In Gloucester Township, Mayer took more than two-thirds of the vote, according to the preliminary county, to beat out Sweet for the mayoral nomination. The three candidates on Mayer's council ticket – incumbents Dan Hutchison and Michelle Winters, and newcomer Scott Owens  – defeated candidates of the Sweet Team:  David Johnson, Christopher Pandolfo, and Barbara Rojas.

"Today demonstrates that voters are supportive of the change we're making in Gloucester Township," Mayer said. "We intend to take this [victory] into the general election."

Anger at Mayer and a generalized dissatisfaction with the political status quo had created a window for the challengers, with some residents upset with a 12 percent property tax increase and the Mayer administration's spending.

"I'm disappointed more people didn't come out to vote, and I'm disappointed in the results, but I am encouraged by the campaign," Sweet said.

Republican slates in each township were unopposed.