Eight candidates running for four nomination spots in the Cherry Hill Township Council Democratic Party primary election
Eight Democratic candidates have filed to run in this June’s primary. Four Republicans have also filed to run unopposed in their party’s primary.
A contested Democratic Party primary for Cherry Hill Township Council will be taking place this June as eight candidates have registered to run for the four spots for the Democratic nomination.
Early this week, the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee and the Progressive Democrats for Cherry Hill each announced four nominees will run in this June’s primary election. The top four vote getters in the primary will be the Democratic nominees in the November Cherry Hill Township Council election.
Four seats on council are up for election this November.
Council President Dave Fleisher and Councilwomen Carole Roskoph and Carolyn Jacobs are each running for re-election under the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee ticket. Fleisher is a managing partner of a financial services firm. A resident of the Siena neighborhood, he is running for his third consecutive term on council.
“Over the past several years, my council colleagues and I have worked closely with Mayor Cahn to make Cherry Hill a place that all of our residents are proud to call home,” Fleisher said in a statement. “We work hard every day to move Cherry Hill forward and protect the quality of life in our town. For five straights years, we have made significant improvements to our roads, parks, trash and recycling programs without raising municipal taxes.”
Roskoph is a Cherry Hill High School West English teacher and student activities director. A resident of Cherry Valley, she is running for a second straight term on council. Jacobs volunteers for multiple organizations and previously worked for IBM before retiring in 2011. A long-time Point of Woods resident, Jacobs is running for her first four-year term on council after winning a one-year special election in 2016.
Newcomer Sangeeta Doshi, a long-time resident in the Short Hills neighborhood, is the fourth member on the ticket. Doshi has been a volunteer in youth athletic associations throughout the township and has also served on the Domestic Violence Response Team, a group dedicated to addressing issues around the prevention and response to domestic violence.
Councilman Jim Banner, whose term expires in December, is not running under the Cherry Hill Democratic Committee Ticket.
The Progressive Democrats for Cherry Hill ticket has nominated four newcomers for the election. Mark Gulbranson is an attorney with expertise in real estate issues and a former judicial clerk for New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Lee Solomon. Gulbranson lives in the Erlton North neighborhood. Joshua Hare is a social studies teacher at Carusi Middle School and manager of Cherry Valley Swim Club. He lives in the Kingston neighborhood. Patricia Magnus is an environmental advocate and 32-year resident of Cherry Hill who lives in the Lucerne neighborhood. Scott Soffen is the owner of B2 Worldwide/Syrapro Marketing. He lives in the Springdale Road area.
In an email, the Progressive Democrats for Cherry Hill state their aim is to “bring democratic decision-making back to the residents and neighborhoods of Cherry Hill, and to put an end to political machine politics that prioritize campaign contributors and powerful developers over residents and neighborhoods.”
In addition to the four council candidates, the group has also nominated 49 candidates to run for the Camden County Democratic Committee.
There are also four Republican candidates who will be running unopposed on the primary ballot in June. According to the township clerk’s office, Andrew Behrend, John Papeika, Scott Cohen and Joseph Rodi Jr. have all filed to run on the Republican ticket in this year’s council election.
The primary elections will take place on Tuesday, June 6. Voters who are not yet registered must do so by May 16 to be eligible to vote in the primary election. To vote in the primary, voters must register as either a Republican or Democrat and can only vote in the primary for their declared party. Those who have not declared a party affiliation can do so at the polls on June 6. Those who have already declared a party affiliation and want to change parties must do so by April 12.
Check back with www.cherryhillsun.com for more on the 2017 council election.
