2025 Berkeley Heights Election Survey Results Released

Top concerns are in the areas of transparency, affordable housing, future of the Bell Labs property, and school budget.

Written by an Educator in the District

On Monday, September 1st, NJ21st released an election survey specifically for Berkeley Heights voters for the November 4th town council and Board of Education elections. The survey was also advertised on NJ21st social media platforms and in two newsletters. The survey received 29 responses over a two-week period.

The results are as follows:

All 29 respondents to the survey claim to be Berkeley Heights voters.

Of the 29 respondents, the majority (15 respondents) selected that they will vote in-person on election day. Eight (8) respondents will vote early and six (6) respondents will vote by mail.

There was a three-way tie for the top issues related to town council with seven (7) responses each. Those issues, in no particular order, were “Future of the Bell Labs/Lucent property,” “government transparency,” and “affordable housing/redevelopment/overdevelopment.” There was one (1) additional write-in response for “overdevelopment due to ‘affordable housing’,” which we could place in the latter affordable housing tied-for-first-place option. Tied for second place with three (3) responses each were “flooding/environmental” and “affordability (property taxes, etc.).” One respondent chose “sale of the sewer system.”

When asked who candidates will vote for in the town council election, the majority (16 respondents) selected the Republican slate with first-time candidates Glenn Endick and Michael Kaminsky. Ten (10) respondents selected former town councilman Alvaro Medeiros and eight (8) respondents selected Town Council Vice President Susan Poage. There were four (4) respondents, approximately 13%, who selected ‘none of the above,’ or that they would write in another candidate.

Shifting to the separate Board of Education (BOE) election, the vast plurality of respondents, or 13 respondents (45%) selected “Budget (annual budget, cost per pupil, etc.).” In second place, 8 respondents (28%) selected “Academic achievement (Curriculum, etc)” and in third place, 6 respondents (21%) selected “transparency with school administration (Superintendent, Business Administrator, etc.).” There was one (1) response for “teacher retention” and one (1) write-in response for “poor performance and outcomes from our BOE caused by the politics of Board members.”

Five (5) candidates running for three (3) seats were placed in order by ballot position. Arik Samson, who ran but lost in 2024, came in first place receiving 21 votes (72%). In second place is first time candidate Javier Morales with 13 votes (45%). Current BOE President Gale Bradford, BOE member Debbie Terrero, and 2024 candidate David Moore each received 9 votes (31%). There were five respondents (17%) who would write in a candidate or vote for ‘none of the above.’ Please note these results may favor Arik Samson unfairly as he was the only candidate above to respond to NJ21st’s candidate questions last year, while Debbie Terrero (who won a one-year term in the November 2024 election) and David Moore (who lost in the 2024 election) did not respond to NJ21st (the same website where this survey was posted).

Candidates running for town council should be talking most about the future of the Bell Labs property, government transparency, and overdevelopment. Candidates running for BOE should be talking the most about the budget and how to stretch our tax dollars while keeping tax increases flat or to a minimum. Candidates for both offices should discuss transparency as transparency tied for first place in the town council survey and third place in the BOE survey. Not a single respondent provided us that “the state of our parks and recreational fields/facilities” was their top town council issue nor did a single respondent provide us that “athletics” was a top BOE issue. 

It will be interesting to see if these responses hold any weight come the November election. NJ21st plans to release a Governor and State Assembly survey to any voter in the 21st State Legislative district as well as additional separate Berkeley Heights and New Providence surveys closer to the November general election. We hope for more participants in those surveys to better get a sense of voter feelings closer to the election.

NJ21st allows for confidentially sourced articles from employees of local government agencies or volunteers of non-profits whose organizations would take retaliatory action against their employees and , in the case of volunteer organizations, officers for exercising their right to express an opinion about local government. We have verified the confidential source for this article and have met with him/her face to face.

Editor’s Note
This survey isn’t meant to be an authoritative final word on what every voter in Berkeley Heights thinks. With 29 people responding, it’s more of a snapshot than a scientific poll. At the same time, it’s telling that similar themes kept coming up—transparency, affordable housing and overdevelopment, the future of Bell Labs, and how we spend on schools.  The results don’t claim to predict November, but they do shine a light on what some of your neighbors are focusing on right now.

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