NORTH ARLINGTON – Longtime North Arlington residents Thomas Bradley and John Yampaglia are expected to seek the Democratic nomination for Borough Council this November NA Today has learned through several sources.
Bradley and Yampaglia, the brother of former Councilman Mark Yampaglia owns a salon in Essex County and has been an active Democrat for decades. Bradley, also a longtime active community resident, will be challenging first-term incumbent Donna Bocchino, the daughter of controversial political insider James “Jimmy” Bocchino, an acknowledged lieutenant to Republican Mayor Daniel Pronti. The other incumbent is Mario Karcic, who was defeated by Mark Yampaglia in 2016.
Presidential elections seem to favor Democrats since the locals have won council seats in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Republicans have not won council seats in a presidential cycle since 2000 and Republicans currently control all seven seats of local government despite the fact Democrats outnumber the GOP.
“This is no time for campaigning. We need to comply with current election laws so that we properly filed our candidates and will reexamine the actual nuts and bolts of the campaign at a later date. At this point we just wanted to ensure our petitions were filed and voters will have a choice come the fall,” offered Nick Antonicello, the party’s long time municipal leader.
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