Union County continues at the top spot in overall county rankings for women’s representation in mayoral, county commissioner and municipal council offices, according to the annual New Jersey County Report Card from the Center for American Women and Politics. In 2022, eight out of 21 mayors in Union County were women. But women also lost ground as mayors in other counties between 2021 and 2022, losing eight mayoralties and falling from 18% of mayoral seats to 16.6%.
Only about 36% of commissioners are women and only 30% are councilmembers.
The top three counties in 2022 for women’s representation are Union, Middlesex and Somerset. They were also the top three in 2021. The bottom three counties are Salem, Passaic and Cape May.
“When you have a government that looks like the people it serves, it will do a better job of creating policies that serve the wider needs of the entire community,” said Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics.
