BERGEN CLERK JOHN HOGAN BACKS BALWIERCZAK TEAM IN NORTH ARLINGTON FOR MAYOR & COUNCIL!
NORTH ARLINGTON – Just so there is no confusion, longtime Bergen County Clerk John Hogan has enthusiastically and whole heartedly support running mates John Balwierczak for Mayor and Dennis Papile and Jim Sever for Borough Council.
These are very different political figures in Bergen County, and they occupy different levels of the Democratic organization.
Hogan is the incumbent Democratic Bergen County Clerk, based at the county government complex in Hackensack. He has held this constitutional office since 2011 and is seeking a fourth term. He defeated Republican incumbent Lisa Randall and has subsequently been reelected several times.
The Clerk’s responsibilities include land records, property-related filings, elections-related functions, passports, trade-name registrations, and custodian of many official records.
In the June 2026 Democratic primary, Hogan received 40,660 votes, or 99.76%, essentially uncontested.
Balwierczak was grateful to be running with his own running mates as well as Hogan at the top of the November election ballot.
“John Hogan is a friend to North Arlington Democrats, He financially supports our efforts and has been a tremendous county clerk on behalf of the residents of Bergen. I’m proud and honored to have him as a supporter, friend and ally,” offered the mayoral hopeful.
Balwierczak believes adding Democrats to the Mayor & Council will strengthen the relationship with our county partners to get things done for North Arlington.
“Dan Pronti is an island to himself with no credible allies or support at the county, state and federal levels. In addition to John Hogan, I have the support of County Executive Jim Tedesco, the entire Bergen County Board of Supervisors as well as former Oakland Mayor Linda Schwager, the next Surrogate Court judge. US Rep. Nellie Pou (D-9) will be speaking at our fundraiser this week. We are united as a party and working together for open government,” noted Balwierczak.
Balwierczak is a lifelong North Arlington resident and a 2007 graduate of North Arlington High School, where he played varsity basketball. He previously worked for UFCW Local 1262 (Foodtown) and now is a personal investor in crypto currency for his own account. He has also shared his permanent hearing disability at birth as part of his personal story as a candidate for mayor.
“I want to connect with voters at a human level. Public service to too important to be partisan and ineffective like we have today under the Pronti Administration.”
His campaign is built heavily around controlling property taxes, rolling/random reassessments, the massive overdevelopment on Ridge Road, wild municipal spending and restoring two-party government.
Balwierczak is also concerned about the lack of response by Pronti regarding the double homicide murders on Ridge Road as well as the federal raid of a Belleville Pike business mixed up in illegal narcotics.
“People are frightened and rightly so, we have an ex-cop as mayor who refused to even acknowledge the drug raid on this business he embraced with open arms in 2024 on his Facebook page. What is being done to ensure such criminal activity ceases and desists?
“North Arlington is no longer small, safe or suburban with Dan Pronti in charge.”
The more interesting political point is that Balwierczak isn’t simply a conventional Democratic candidate. He has been described as a former Republican who became a Democrat, which potentially gives him an unusual ability to appeal to independent or traditionally Republican North Arlington voters.
Candidate Jim Sever is a working-class union tradesman, a journeyman tile installer with BAC Local 7. He is originally from Brooklyn and attended Lafayette High School. He and his wife have been married for roughly three decades, and they have three children.
He is a homeowner on Albert Street in North Arlington.
Sever also has significant organized labor backing. In 2026 he received endorsements from both the New Jersey AFL-CIO and the Bergen County Central Trades Council.
He and Balwierczak actually have a history as a ticket.
In 2025 they ran together for council. They came surprisingly close to the Republican incumbents: Balwierczak 2,341 and Sever 2,251, versus Republican Kirk Del Russo’s 2,993 and Amanda DeCicco’s 2,895.
The 2025 numbers are particularly important because they show that Balwierczak and Sever weren’t just symbolic candidates. Together they came within roughly 550 votes of the two Republican council candidates, despite North Arlington having been heavily Republican for years.
Balwierczak, Papile and Sever are hosting a “meet & greet” this Wednesday, October 7th at the Arlington Diner beginning at 7:00 PM.
For details, contact the campaign at (201) 937-4277 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Tickets can be purchased at the door, and all supportive residents are urged to stop by and say hello.