Rubina and Cohen win council primary, Barr and Walter win commissioner primary

Marina Rubina and David Cohen won the Democratic primary for two seats on the Princeton Council on Tuesday.

Rubina, a local architect, and Cohen, an incumbent seeking a fourth term on the Council, beat out fellow candidates Jon Durbin and Leanne Jahnke. Rubina currently leads with just over 30 percent of the vote. Councilmembers serve three-year terms.

The election represents the first competitive primary for the Council since 2020.

Councilmember Leticia Fraga, who is serving her ninth year on the Council, is not seeking re-election.

In another competitive race, Nakia White Barr defeated incumbent John Cimino to win the Democratic nomination for one of two seats on the Mercer County Board of County Commissioners. Incumbent Lucylle Walter is in second place behind Barr, and will be nominated for her tenth term on the Board.

Cimino, who has held the position since 2009, is the first incumbent to be voted out during the primary election since 2008, when he successfully challenged then-incumbent Tony Mack.

Barr’s victory marks the first competitive primary for the position in a decade. She is a former assistant vice president for institutional affairs at the University, where she worked in the Office of the President.

While all three candidates were endorsed by the county Democratic party, Walter and Cimino also received backing from several prominent party officials, including New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill.

During the campaign for Princeton Council, Rubina primarily focused on advocating for greater housing development in Princeton. She also argued the municipality’s zoning code needs to allow a greater variety of housing, such as duplexes and triplexes, to be built in more places.

Rubina is the co-owner of Tigerlabs, a flexible coworking space, as well as the owner of her own architecture firm. She acknowledged during the campaign that, if elected, she would need to move her professional work outside of Princeton and suspend her projects within the municipality to avoid conflicts of interest.

Cohen highlighted his connections with municipal staff and argued for the benefits of accumulated experience in the position.

All of the Council candidates, as well as Barr, participated in a joint celebration of the campaigns on Tuesday night at the Princeton Shopping Center.

“While I am grateful to the voters for their confidence in me, at the same time I regret that we can’t all serve on Council,” Cohen wrote in a statement to The Daily Princetonian. “I am incredibly proud of the campaigns everyone ran and our joint celebration last night was the perfect end to a really uplifting process for the whole community.”

Rubina did not provide comment in time for publication.

Barr, during her campaign, said that the work of county commissioners is not well known to the public, and said that, if elected, she would work to increase the county’s familiarity with the role. She also highlighted her legal background as a strength. Barr is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

In contrast, Walter characterized the county government as transparent and accessible. She said  that her decades on the Board have given her the knowledge of how best to use county government to benefit residents.

“I am honored and grateful to have won the primary, and appreciate the outstanding support I received here in Princeton,” Barr wrote to the ‘Prince.’ If elected, she will be the only commissioner on the Board from Princeton.

Walter expressed her “deepest gratitude” to the voters who participated in the election in a statement to the ‘Prince.’

“Every time a citizen casts their vote, the spark of democracy is rekindled,” she wrote. “Though our choices may vary, we must then unite in our pursuit of a government that truly represents our collective beliefs.”

The Republican primaries for both races were uncontested. Antonio Merolli is the only Republican candidate for Princeton Council, and Donald Ober and Shaolin Brown are the two Republican candidates for county commissioner. The Democratic candidates are favored to win in the general election.

The general election will occur on Nov. 3, where voters will elect two members of the Princeton Council and two Mercer County commissioners.

Oliver Wu is the assistant News editor for the ‘Prince’ leading town coverage, focused on the Municipality of Princeton and beyond. He is from Stony Brook, N.Y., and can be reached at oliver.wu[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.