Michael Mancuso

Michael Mancuso

Democratic Party

Candidate, New Jersey General Assembly District 26

Elections and appointments

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

Kinnelon High School

Bachelor's

Montclair State University, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Pompton Plains, N.J.

Profession

Technician

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Michael Mancuso (Democratic Party) is running for election to the New Jersey General Assembly to represent District 26. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. He advanced from the Democratic primary on June 10, 2025.

Mancuso completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Michael Mancuso was born in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor's degree from Montclair State University in 2020. His career experience includes working as a technician. Mancuso has been affiliated with the Environmental Commision in Pequannock, New Jersey and Animal Dignity of Pequannock Township.

Elections

2025

See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 26 (2 seats)

Incumbent Brian Bergen, incumbent Jay Webber, Michael Mancuso, and Walter Mielarczyk are running in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 26 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Brian Bergen (R)
		Jay Webber (R)
		Michael Mancuso (D)
	Submit photo	Walter Mielarczyk (D)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 26 (2 seats)

Michael Mancuso and Walter Mielarczyk advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 26 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael Mancuso	51.4	15,550
✔	Submit photo	Walter Mielarczyk	48.6	14,702

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,252
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Wayne Marek (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 26 (2 seats)

Incumbent Jay Webber and incumbent Brian Bergen advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 26 on June 10, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jay Webber	52.5	17,376
✔		Brian Bergen	47.5	15,731

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33,107
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Mancuso received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• Morris County (NJ) Democratic Committee

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Michael Mancuso completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mancuso's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a lifelong New Jersey resident. I grew up in Lincoln Park, I went to public school in Kinnelon, and for the past 20 years, I’ve called Pequannock and Pompton Plains home.I graduated from Montclair State University with a degree in criminal justice furthering my belief in our state education. After college I spent 15 years helping my parents run their small local business in Pequannock. By trade, I’m an appliance technician—a career I’ve pursued since high school. Today, I manage a team of technicians while continuing to work directly with customers, solving problems and keeping things running smoothly. The passion for problem-solving and helping people led me to get more involved in our community.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I believe in a healthy clean and sustainable future for our communities.
• I believe in fully funded and functional public institutions. Education is the most important part for the growth and development of our society. We must protect our schools and libraries from private hands so education is offered equally to everyone regardless of background.
• Affordability but most important is the smart use of our tax dollars. We need to make sure that our government is supporting all our citizens and is efficiently spending for the benefit of all.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Healthcare, Eduction, Environmental Policy, Economic Policy

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Blackwater, The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty,Transparency, Belief in Common Good

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Appliance technician and small business operator. I still help customers everyday making their lives easier for twenty years.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Giver Chappell Roan

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Clean Energy production, affordable owner occupied housing, preserving and reclaiming green space in townships, building better and more efficient public services such as education

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

I am interested in building trust and confidence with my fellow New Jerseyans.

What committees interest you?

Environmental, Housing, Education

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I believe there should be no secrets in government and

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.

See also

2025 Elections

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External links

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Candidate

New Jersey General Assembly District 26

Facebook

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the New Jersey General Assembly

Leadership

Representatives

District 1

Antwan McClellan (R)

Erik Simonsen (R)

District 2

Don Guardian (R)

Claire Swift (R)

District 3

Dave Bailey (D)

Heather Simmons (D)

District 4

Dan Hutchison (D)

Cody Miller (D)

District 5

William Moen (D)

William Spearman (D)

District 6

Louis Greenwald (D)

Melinda Kane (D)

District 7

Carol Murphy (D)

Balvir Singh (D)

District 8

Andrea Katz (D)

Michael Torrissi (R)

District 9

Gregory Myhre (R)

Brian Rumpf (R)

District 10

Paul Kanitra (R)

Gregory McGuckin (R)

District 11

Margie Donlon (D)

Luanne Peterpaul (D)

District 12

Robert Clifton (R)

Alex Sauickie (R)

District 13

Victoria Flynn (R)

Gerard Scharfenberger (R)

District 14

Wayne DeAngelo (D)

Tennille McCoy (D)

District 15

Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)

Anthony Verrelli (D)

District 16

Mitchelle Drulis (D)

Roy Freiman (D)

District 17

Joseph Danielsen (D)

Kevin Egan (D)

District 18

Robert Karabinchak (D)

Sterley Stanley (D)

District 19

Craig Coughlin (D)

Yvonne Lopez (D)

District 20

Reginald Atkins (D)

Annette Quijano (D)

District 21

Michele Matsikoudis (R)

Nancy Muñoz (R)

District 22

Linda Carter (D)

James Kennedy (D)

District 23

John DiMaio (R)

Erik Peterson (R)

District 24

Dawn Fantasia (R)

Michael Inganamort (R)

District 25

Christian Barranco (R)

Aura Dunn (R)

District 26

Brian Bergen (R)

Jay Webber (R)

District 27

Rosy Bagolie (D)

Alixon Collazos-Gill (D)

District 28

Garnet Hall (D)

Cleopatra Tucker (D)

District 29

Eliana Marin (D)

Shanique Speight (D)

District 30

Sean Kean (R)

Avi Schnall (D)

District 31

William Sampson (D)

Barbara Stamato (D)

District 32

John Allen (D)

Jessica Ramirez (D)

District 33

Julio Marenco (D)

Gabriel Rodriguez (D)

District 34

Carmen Morales (D)

Michael Venezia (D)

District 35

Alaa Abdelaziz (D)

Shavonda Sumter (D)

District 36

Clinton Calabrese (D)

Gary Schaer (D)

District 37

Shama Haider (D)

Ellen Park (D)

District 38

Lisa Swain (D)

Chris Tully (D)

District 39

Robert Auth (R)

John Azzariti (R)

District 40

Al Barlas (R)

Christopher DePhillips (R)

Democratic Party (52)

Republican Party (28)