In a recent legal filing related to the long-running battle over New Jersey’s primary ballots, a number of plaintiffs had to certify that they do, indeed, intend on running for public office in the future and thus would be harmed by unlawful ballot design. Some of those declarations were hardly a surprise, like the fact that Senator Andy Kim plans to run for re-election in 2030.
But one stood out: former Glen Rock Councilwoman Arati Kreibich, a 2020 primary challenger against Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), said in the filing that she intends to run for Bergen County Clerk in 2026, potentially putting her on a collision course with Democratic incumbent John Hogan. If she loses that race, she goes on to say she’d then run for Bergen County Commissioner in 2027.
Kreibich did not respond to a request for comment. It’s not immediately clear how serious her intentions are – or whether they have anything to do with the fact that Hogan is one of two county clerks who has yet to sign a consent decree agreeing not to revert to county line-style ballots in the future.
(The filing also states Kreibich intends to run for Democratic county committee in 2026, an office that several other candidates involved in the lawsuit similarly say they’ll run for; in other words, announcing a planned campaign for county clerk was not necessary for Kreibich to be able to confirm her continued involvement in electoral politics for the purposes of the lawsuit.)
Kreibich was elected to the Glen Rock Borough Council in 2017, and a few years later decided to wage a primary campaign against Gottheimer, whose moderate politics had become an increasing target of state and national progressives. She raised more than $600,000, but facing a variety of disadvantages – including, she argues, the county line, which put Gottheimer in a more favorable ballot position – she lost 67% to 33%.
Kreibich had to give up her borough council seat that year and hasn’t sought elected office since, though she stayed involved in progressive politics and worked for a time at New Jersey Working Families. (Gottheimer, for his part, remains in office and hasn’t drawn any primary opponents for his congressional seat since Kreibich.)
Hogan, in office since 2012, has faced one prior Democratic primary challenge: from former Englewood Mayor Sandy Greenberg, who took him on in 2021 and lost 80%-20%. Bergen Democrats received stiffer primary opposition this year from a county commissioner slate allied with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, but still won by a collective 59%-41% margin.
