Challenger Leads East Brunswick BOE Race; Last Seat Too Close To Call

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — A challenger leads the East Brunswick Board of Education race, and the third seat is still close as mail-in and provisional ballots are counted.

As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Heather James-Zuckerman led with 7,832 votes, followed by Cummings with 7,570 and Herrick with 7,270, according to unofficial results from the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office.

Incumbent Antoinette Evola was fourth with 7,001 votes, 269 behind Herrick. Muhammad Saqeeb had 3,656 votes and Hena Mughal had 3,017.

Six candidates ran for three three-year seats. Three were incumbents and three were challengers. If the results hold, James-Zuckerman will join the board, Tim Cummings and Laurie Herrick will get new terms.

A Race That Tightened Through The Night

Cummings led early on Tuesday night, but James-Zuckerman moved into first place as more votes came in. Herrick’s lead over Evola grew as the count went on.

It’s happened before. Late ballots have changed an East Brunswick school board race before. In 2023, early results had incumbent Mark Carangelo winning the third seat. After mail-in ballots were counted, Cummings passed him. The final count put Cummings at 3,387 votes and Carangelo at 3,317, a 70-vote margin.

It’s not clear how many ballots are left to count in East Brunswick.

James-Zuckerman holds a doctorate and works as a professor. She has a background in higher education, budget analysis and government relations, and she is the membership officer for the Churchill Junior High School PTA.

Cummings and Herrick were both first elected to the board in 2023.

Evola won a one-year unexpired term on the board in 2025. She received 5,892 votes in that race.

The board race drew 36,468 candidate votes in returns available Wednesday morning. That’s close to last year’s school board race for three-year seats, when 36,715 votes were cast, including write-ins.

Because voters can pick up to three candidates, candidate votes add up to more than the number of voters.

The Middlesex County Clerk’s Office will continue counting mail-in and provisional ballots. Results are unofficial until the county certifies them later this month.

The new board members will be sworn in at the board’s reorganization meeting in January.

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