Sandra Bolden Cunningham expected to get senate seat tonight

Ken Thorbourne -- Jersey Journal -- October 23

Reena Rose Sibayan/Jersey JournalSandra Bolden Cunningham is expected to be named state senator this evening.

Sandra Bolden Cunningham, the Democratic nominee for state senate in the 31st District, is the odds-on favorite to be named tonight to serve out the unexpired term of Joseph V. Doria, Jr., who held the seat until two weeks ago, when he jouined Gov. Jon Corzine's cabinet.

The Democratic committee members for the district are scheduled to meet for a vote at 5:45 p.m. at School 40, 88 Gates Ave.

Doria, who also served as the mayor of Bayonne until he stepped down Oct. 9, is now serving as acting commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs and is awaiting confirmation by the senate.

Bolden Cunningham's late husband, Glenn D. Cunningham, held the senate seat from the 31st District and was Jersey City's first African-American mayor.

She faces no Republican opposition in the Nov. 6 election.

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Update: Bolden Cunningham gets nod for senator

Jersey Journal
by Ken Thorbourne
Tuesday October 23, 2007, 8:16 PM

Sandra Bolden Cunningham received the nod tonight from Democratic party faithful to serve out the unexpired term of Joseph V. Doria Jr. as state senator of the 31st District.

Bolden Cunningham, 57, steps into a seat once occupied her late husband, former Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham.

The position opened up earlier this month when Gov. Jon Corzine tapped Doria, Bayonne's former mayor and state senator, to head the state's Department of Community Affairs.

In a seven-minute meeting held at School 40 in Jersey City, more than 100 Democratic committee members in the 31st District selected Bolden Cunningham to serve out Doria's term, which ends Dec. 31, without opposition.

"You won't be sorry," Bolden Cunningham told the crowd after the vote. "There's a new day in Trenton. A lot of women are going and I am going to be there first."

Then alluding to her late husband, who died in office in 2004, Bolden Cunningham added, "I'll be the second best senator you ever had."

Bolden Cunningham is expected to be sworn in next month when the Legislature reconvenes. She still has to run in the general election on Nov. 6. But she's up against a virtual unknown, independent Democrat Louis Vernotico.

Jersey City Mayor and Hudson County Democratic Organization chairman Jerramiah Healy presided over the meeting and said the outcome reflected "the will of the people."

"We had an election, we had a primary, and Sandra won handily," Healy said. "You heard the committee persons, it was unanimous and emphatic."