WHY ARE REGISTERED REPUBLICANS RUNNING AS INDEPENDENTS?
BOE HOPEFULS BOTH REGISTERED GOP, SUPPORTED BY “MAGA” MAYOR DAN PRONTI!
NORTH ARLINGTON – In the race for two seats on the Board of Education, challengers Nicole DeCapua and running-mate Alexandra Leitao are in fact, registered Republicans and here are copies of their voter profiles from the Bergen County Board of Elections below.
DeCapua resides on Chestnut Street and has been a Republican since 2019 while Alexandra Leitao is also a Republican and resides on Arlington Blvd.
DeCapua voted in the 2024 presidential but skipped voting last year for governor well as 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2017.
Her running-mate Alexandra Leitao of Arlington Blvd voted last year as well as 2024 but did not vote in 2023 or 2022.
She registered as a Republican in 2025. 
Both Leitao and DeCapua have been endorsed by the local Republicans and have the strong support of Mayor Dan Pronti. Promoters of their Column C ticket explicitly pitch them to the community as the candidates who best represent MAGA conservative values for the School Board.
Mayor Dan Pronti (R) is a primary supporter of their campaign and has no problem sticking his nose in this non-partisan race as he did last year and was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters in a landslide.
Pronti and the Republican-led borough council frequently collaborate with and praise Leitao for her community leadership, notably through her work as Vice President of North Arlington Access for All and her management of the local Community Garden initiatives.
Pronti has also directly invited their campaign ticket to major town-sponsored events, such as the annual Access for All Ice Cream Social.
Because New Jersey School Board elections are legally nonpartisan, Leitao and DeCapua run under a personal campaign slogan and are positioned in their own column (Column C) on the ballot.
However, they are not “independent” in any stretch of the word.
While their names appear on the nonpartisan section of the ballot, their platform is heavily supported, promoted, and endorsed by local Republican figures including Mayor Dan Pronti and marketed to voters who align with MAGA’s conservative values.
The longtime incumbents, Robert Dorsett and Edward Smith are seeking reelection to the North Arlington Board of Education for another three-year term.
Running as a non-partisan team, they were first elected in 2017 and won reelection in 2020 and 2023.
Here are the key accomplishments cited by the incumbents: 
Technology: Helped launch and expand the district-wide Chromebook initiative for students in grades 2 through 12.
Facilities: Assisted in acquiring and converting the former Queen of Peace High School building (Veterans Middle School property) to expand local classroom space and facilities at a reduced cost compared to new construction.
Special Education: Supported bringing an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) special education program directly into the district to keep local students in town.
For more details on school district governance, you can visit the http://North Arlington Board of Education official portal.
Unlike the MAGA led Republicans, the North Arlington Democratic Party takes no position in school board races.
“We believe partisan politics has no place in our public schools, and we defer voters to make their own selections and choices. We believe Pronti and the Republicans are once again overreaching and trying to consolidate all political power in the hands of one man, Dan Pronti himself. This kind of politics is destroying any sense of a local grass roots democracy, and we reject the heavy-handed nature of such attempts to politicize our public schools by the Republican Party,” according to a statement provided by the North Arlington Democratic Municipal Committee Chair, Nick Antonicello.