The Livingston Democratic County Committee has submitted three names for the pending vacancy on the Township Council. Laurence Bergmann, James McIlvaine, and Ketan Bhuptani have been nominated to fill Rosy Bagolie’s seat.
Bhuptani has been long rumored to be the next person the Livingston Democratic County Committee has tabbed for the role. A Memorandum of Understanding was drafted leading up to the 2022 election saying as much, as the committee worked to select a Democratic candidate to replace the retiring Rudy Fernandez. Bhuptani, Bagolie, and Sam Messer were the three residents considered to run alongside Shawn Klein and Ed Meinhardt, who were seeking reelection. The memorandum, which was never officially signed, indicated that Bhuptani would be the next Democratic candidate in line, after Bagolie was ultimately selected, ensuring he would not run in a contested primary election for the spot. Messer ultimately chose to run in that election as an independent. Bagolie won the seat, alongside Klein and Meinhardt, who each also won. She served for one year before being elected to the state assembly.
There is additional evidence pointing to Bhuptani as Livingston’s next Council member. During that same 2022 election cycle, when news of the memorandum was reported, Council member Michael Vieira (then the deputy mayor) said that Bhuptani would be his running mate in 2024, after his current fouryear term is up. Vieira had previously run alongside Al Anthony, but indicated at the time that Anthony (Livingston’s mayor this year) would not be seeking a fourth term on the Council, citing an unofficial township policy of not running for more than three terms. Anthony, when reached at the time, however, said that he was not part of any of those discussions, nor was he consulted on the memorandum.
We will not have to wait long to find out who is chosen. The Council now has 30 days from the time of the submission to select one of the nominees from the list, which is done by resolution during a public meeting. The next Council meeting will be held on February 5, and since that is the only scheduled meeting remaining during that 30 day period, we expect to hear who has been selected at that time.
The person chosen, who will be sworn in immediately following passage of the resolution, will then serve until the next certified general election. The 2024 general election will be held on Tuesday, November 5. That election will be to fill the seat for the remainder of Bagolie’s term, which runs through the end of 2026.
