Two Paterson city councilmen under indictment for voter fraud after allegedly stealing their elections four years ago were re-elected in Tuesday’s non-partisan municipal election.
Council President Alex Mendez won 48% of the vote to secure a second term in his 3rd Ward seat. He defeated former Councilman Bill McKoy, 1,144-860, a 48%-36% margin. Former Passaic County Commissioner Assad Akhter, a top aide to Gov. Phil Murphy, finished third with 367 votes (15%).
In the 1st Ward, incumbent Michael Jackson appears to have narrowly defeated challenger Fannia Santana, 773-712, a margin of 38.5% to 35.4%. Trailing were Mosleh Uddin (237), Mohammed Mohan Hossain (164), Rodney Addison (82), and Ramona Blizzard (27).
The two were charged shortly after the 2020 election with casting a massive number of illegal vote-by-mail ballots and are still awaiting trial; Mendez faced additional charges in 2023.
Mendez had narrowly unseated McKoy after allegedly being involved in a scheme to intercept the mail-in ballots; over 900 of them were stuffed into surrounding mailboxes, some in batches wrapped by rubber bands that caught the attention of an astute postal worker.
Despite the indictment, Mendez ran a competitive race for mayor in 2022.
In the 2nd Ward, incumbent Shahin Khalique (1,895) held his seat by 382 votes against Aheya Khan (1,513), a margin of 49%-39%. A third candidate, Frank Filippelli, received 466 votes (12%).
4th Ward Councilwoman Ruby Cotton was re-elected to a fourth term with 54% of the vote, outpolling Justin Rucker (25%) and Kimmeshia Rogers-Jones (20%^).
Al Abdelaziz won a massive 84% to win re-election to his 6th War city council seat. He defeated Abed Thabatah, 1,254-233.