Stack won't back Marenco for Assembly – New Jersey Globe

Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack will not support freshman Assemblyman Julio Marenco (D-West New York) for re-election next year in Hudson County’s 33rd district as part of a rapidly escalating fight with North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco.

Marenco faces a tough battle for a second term in the legislature without the support of Stack, who is also the state senator from the same district.

Two sources with direct knowledge of Stack’s plans confirmed that Marenco is a non-starter for Stack in 2025.

When a new legislative map was approved in 2022, Stack and Sacco found themselves in the same legislative district.  A week later, Sacco announced that he would not seek re-election after 30 years in the Senate and endorsed Stack.  The relationship between the two, never good, has bottomed out over the last year.

Part of the redistricting deal was that Marenco, a North Bergen commissioner and longtime Sacco running mate, would get one of the Assembly seats. The other went to West New York Stacks’ choice, West New York Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez; Rodriguez knocked out six-term incumbent Angelica Jimenez (D-West New York), a Sacco ally.  Marenco replaced Assemblyman Pedro Mejia (D-Secaucus).

One possible challenger to Marenco is Larry Wainstein, a businessman and fierce Sacco critic whose parents were born in South America.

Wainstein has run against Sacco in North Bergen three times, each with essentially the same result each time: a 65%-35% loss in 2015, a 68%-32% loss in 2019, and now an even bigger 71%-29% loss last year.   But Wainstein can pump serious money into his campaign – he loaned $600,000 to his 2023 campaign – and could win a third of the vote in North Bergen, along with Stack’s ability to deliver massive pluralities in Union City, West New York, and Weehawken.

Still, Stack won’t be on the ballot next year, so his running mates won’t have the benefit of his direct coattails.

Marenco was listed as one of four Hudson County assemblymembers who would run using Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s slogan next year; Stack, Hudson County Executive/Democratic County Chairman Craig Guy, West New York Mayor Albio Sires, and Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner have announced their intention to back Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) for governor if he runs in 2025.