New Jersey’s 31st Legislative District lies along the Hudson River. It covers Bayonne, Kearny and part of Jersey City in Hudson County.
Long a Democratic stronghold, voter registration in the district skews blues, with 53% of registrants Democrats, 11% Republicans and most of the rest unaffiliated.
The retirement of Democratic Sen. Sandra Cunningham created a chain reaction, with Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, a Jersey City woman who founded and serves as CEO of an advocacy and support organization for senior citizens, running for Senate instead. She faces Republican Luis Soto, a business executive from Kearny.
Assemblyman William Sampson IV, a former crane operator and union leader from Bayonne, is running with Barbara McCann Stamato, who currently serves as vice chair of the Hudson County Democratic Organization and the Jersey City Democratic municipal chair. They face Republicans Sydney Ferreira, a real estate professional from Kearny who ran unsuccessfully last cycle, and Angelique Diaz, who has worked in real estate and finance and lives in Bayonne. There are also two independents running for the Assembly in the 31st district—Mary Jane Desmond of Bayonne and Noemi Velazquez of Jersey City—under the slogan, “Leadership Experience Values.”