Sheila Montague

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Sheila Montague

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

July 16, 2024

Personal

Profession

Professor, Essex County College

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Sheila Montague (Democratic Party) ran in a special election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 10th Congressional District. She lost in the special Democratic primary on July 16, 2024.

Montague also ran for election for an at-large seat of the Newark Public Schools Board of Education in New Jersey. She lost in the general election on April 16, 2024.

Biography

As of 2015, Sheila Montague was a professor at Essex County College and a published poet. She served as a district leader in the city of Newark under Sen. Ron Rice (D-28) and founded both the Changing the Lenses Together (CTLT) Foundation and Face Structure. Montague is a member of Parents United for Local School Education (PULSE).

Elections

2024

U.S. House

See also: New Jersey's 10th Congressional District special election, 2024

General election

Special general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 10

LaMonica McIver defeated Carmen Bucco, Russell Jenkins, and Rayfield Morton in the special general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 10 on September 18, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		LaMonica McIver (D)	81.4	27,402
		Carmen Bucco (R)	15.6	5,258
		Russell Jenkins (One for All)	1.6	530
		Rayfield Morton (Creating Real Progress)	1.4	476

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33,666
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 10

The following candidates ran in the special Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 10 on July 16, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		LaMonica McIver	47.4	12,507
		Derek Armstead	13.6	3,596
	Submit photo	Jerry Walker	9.7	2,568
	Submit photo	Darryl Godfrey	6.9	1,815
		Brittany Claybrooks	5.2	1,377
	Submit photo	Shana Melius	4.5	1,196
		Sheila Montague	3.7	966
		Alberta Gordon	2.9	756
		John J. Flora	2.6	684
		Eugene Mazo	2.2	586
	Submit photo	Debra Salters	1.2	316

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 26,367
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Special Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 10

Carmen Bucco advanced from the special Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 10 on July 16, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Carmen Bucco	100.0	2,015

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,015
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Montague in this election.

Newark Public Schools

See also: Newark Public Schools, New Jersey, elections (2024)

General election

General election for Newark Public Schools Board of Education (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Newark Public Schools Board of Education on April 16, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Helena Vinhas (Nonpartisan)	22.1	2,874
✔		Vereliz Santana (Nonpartisan)	22.1	2,870
✔		Dawn Haynes (Nonpartisan)	20.9	2,719
	Submit photo	Debra Salters (Nonpartisan)	11.1	1,448
		Sheila Montague (Nonpartisan)	8.4	1,091
	Submit photo	Latoya Jackson (Nonpartisan)	6.3	819
	Submit photo	Muta El-Amin (Nonpartisan)	3.2	421
		Che' J.T. Colter (Nonpartisan)	3.0	394
		Jimmie White (Nonpartisan)	2.8	366

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,002
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Montague in this election.

2022

See also: Mayoral election in Newark, New Jersey (2022)

General election

General election for Mayor of Newark

Incumbent Ras Baraka defeated Sheila Montague in the general election for Mayor of Newark on May 10, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ras Baraka (Nonpartisan)	83.1	14,777
		Sheila Montague (Nonpartisan)	16.9	3,007

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,784
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2021

See also: Newark Public Schools, New Jersey, elections (2021)

General election

Special general election for Newark Public Schools Board of Education

Daniel Gonzalez defeated Sheila Montague in the special general election for Newark Public Schools Board of Education on April 20, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Daniel Gonzalez (Nonpartisan)	66.0	2,580
		Sheila Montague (Nonpartisan)	34.0	1,331

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,911
= 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.

2020

See also: Newark Public Schools, New Jersey, elections (2020)

General election

General election for Newark Public Schools Board of Education (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Newark Public Schools Board of Education on May 12, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Josephine Garcia (Nonpartisan)	27.7	5,877
✔		Flohisha Johnson (Nonpartisan)	26.1	5,542
✔		Hasani Council (Nonpartisan)	25.1	5,323
		Sheila Montague (Nonpartisan)	9.3	1,981
	Submit photo	Phillip Wilson (Nonpartisan)	5.7	1,206
		Ronnie Kellam (Nonpartisan)	4.6	965
		Other/Write-in votes	1.5	314

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,208
= 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.
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2017

See also: Newark Public Schools elections (2017)

The Newark Unity slate of candidates—Reginald Bledsoe, Josephine Garcia, and Flohisha Johnson—was victorious in the general election on April 25, 2017. This was the last election the Newark Public Schools Board of Education held before the board regains local control of the district. The board has held advisory status since it was taken over by the state of New Jersey in 1995. A total of 16 candidates filed to run for three seats up for at-large election, including one incumbent. Three of these candidates made up the Newark Unity slate, which was endorsed by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Three other candidates formed the Community Team slate. Following the 2016 election, all nine members of the board were Baraka-endorsed candidates and had been members of either the Children First Team or the Newark Unity slate.
Besides board incumbent Philip Seelinger, the candidates who filed to run in this election were Swapan Basu, Reginald Bledsoe, Patricia Bradford, Denise Cole, Anthony Diaz, Josephine Garcia, EZDehar Hatab, Jameel Ibrahim, Flohisha Johnson, Charles Love, Sheila Montague, Ryan Talmadge, Deborah Terrell, and Jimmie White. Bledsoe, Garcia, and Johnson ran as a part of the Newark Unity slate. Cole, Seelinger, and Talmadge made up another slate called the Community Team. Sixteenth candidate Sharon Smith filed for election but later decided she did not want to run in the race. Her name still appeared on the ballot. Diaz's name did not appear on the ballot.

Results

Newark Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Josephine Garcia	17.93%	3,595
Reginald Bledsoe	17.01%	3,411
Flohisha Johnson	13.66%	2,740
Charles Love	7.82%	1,568
Deborah Terrell	7.45%	1,494
Patricia Bradford	7.30%	1,465
Philip Seelinger Incumbent	5.88%	1,180
Denise Cole	5.25%	1,053
Sheila Montague	3.79%	761
Swapan Basu	3.65%	732
Jimmie White	2.99%	599
Ryan Talmadge	2.37%	475
Sharon Smith	2.28%	458
EZDehar Hatab	1.55%	311
Jameel Ibrahim	0.91%	182
Anthony Diaz	0.00%
Write-in votes	0.15%	31
Total Votes		20,055
Source: Essex County Clerk, "2017 School Board Election," accessed May 26, 2017

Funding

See also: Campaign finance requirements in New Jersey and List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017

School board candidates in New Jersey had to file reports of their campaign financial activity with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. Each candidate is required to appoint a treasurer (a candidate may serve as his or her own treasurer) and create a campaign depository (a bank account) and file this information with the commission. Candidates must establish a reporting committee, which has the sole name under which a candidate receives contributions, makes expenditures, labels his or her political identification statements, or otherwise does business. No later than 10 days after establishing a candidate committee, the candidate must file the Single Candidate Committee Certificate of Organization and Designation of Campaign Treasurer and Depository form.

A candidate must begin filing reports with the commission on a date that depends upon when the committee's financial activity begins. If a candidate committee is set up within five months or less of the due date of the 29-day pre-election report, the committee must file a 29-day pre-election report as the initial election fund report. If the committee is established more than five months prior to the due date of the 29-day pre-election report, the committee must file a quarterly report as its initial election fund report. Beginning the 13th day before the election day and ending on election day, if a candidate receives more than $1,600 from a single source, the committee must file a report within 48 hours.

There were five campaign finance reporting deadlines in 2017 for this school board election. Each deadline required the candidate to file a cumulative campaign report.

• March 20, 2017 (29th day pre-election report)
• April 5, 2017 (48-hour reporting began)
• April 7, 2017 (11th day pre-election report)
• April 18, 2017 (48-hour reporting ended)
• May 8, 2017 (20th day post-election report)

Montague had not reported any campaign contributions or expenditures to the commission as of April 12, 2017.

2016

See also: Newark Public Schools elections (2016)

Three of the nine seats on the Newark Public Schools Board of Education were up for at-large general election on April 19, 2016. No incumbents filed in the race. Newcomers Jason Dotson, Thomas Ellis, Carole Graves, Tamara Moore, Leah Owens, Tave Padilla, Jody Pittman, Juan Silva, George Tillman, Deborah Kim Thompson-Gaddy, Jimmie White, and former candidate Sheila Montague faced each other for the three seats. Owens, Padilla, and Thompson-Gaddy defeated the remaining candidates and won seats on the Newark board. All three of these candidates were members of the Newark Unity slate endorsed by Mayor Ras J. Baraka. There was no primary.

Newark Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 3-year terms, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Deborah Kim Thompson-Gaddy	21.92%	5,909
Tave Padilla	21.86%	5,892
Leah Owens	18.62%	5,018
Sheila Montague	9.56%	2,576
Carole Graves	8.09%	2,180
Tamara Moore	6.59%	1,775
Thomas Ellis	3.32%	896
Jody Pittman	2.95%	794
Juan Silva	2.29%	618
George Tillman	1.87%	505
Jimmie White	1.68%	452
Jason Dotson	1.25%	338
Total Votes		26,953
Source: Essex County Clerk, "2016 School Board Election," accessed May 10, 2016

Funding

Montague reported no campaign funding in the election.

Endorsements

Montague received no official endorsements in the election.

2015

See also: Newark Public Schools elections (2015)

Three of the nine seats on the Newark Advisory Board were up for election on April 21, 2015. Only one incumbent, Marques-Aquil Lewis, filed to run for re-election. He faced the following seven challengers on the general election ballot: Natasha Alvarado, Veronica Branch, Dashay Carter, Crystal Fonseca, Ronnie Kellam, Charles Love III, and Sheila Montague. Lewis, Carter, and Fonseca were chosen for Mayor Ras J. Barak's "Children First Team" slate.

Michael Diaz and Ivan Holmes also filed to run in this election but did not appear on the ballot. Holmes withdrew from the race and Diaz was disqualified.

The Baraka-backed candidates Lewis, Carter, and Fonseca, won the three seat up for election.

Results

Newark Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 3-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Crystal Fonseca	21.9%	3,745
	Nonpartisan	Marques-Aquil Lewis Incumbent	21.8%	3,729
	Nonpartisan	Dashay Carter	19.4%	3,311
	Nonpartisan	Charles Love III	11.4%	1,955
	Nonpartisan	Sheila Montague	10.1%	1,729
	Nonpartisan	Veronica Branch	9.6%	1,637
	Nonpartisan	Natasha Alvarado	3.4%	584
	Nonpartisan	Ronnie Kellam	2%	347
	Nonpartisan	Write-in votes	0.4%	63
Total Votes				17,100
Source: Essex County Clerk, "2015 School Board Election," April 27, 2015

Funding

Montague reported no contributions or expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as of April 17, 2015.

Endorsements

Campaign logo for candidates endorsed by the Newark Parent's Union.

Montague was endorsed by the Newark Parents Union, along with Veronica Branch and Charles Love III.

2014

See also: Newark, New Jersey city council elections, 2014

Elections for the city council of Newark, New Jersey took place on May 12, 2014. Incumbent Ronald C. Rice did not seek re-election. Maryam Bey, Patricia J. Bradford, Rashawn Davis, Sheila Montague, Anthony R. Higgins, Robert Kevin Waters, Joseph A. McCallum, Jr. and Anton Wheeler faced off for the West Ward seat. Because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters - Bradford and McCallum - met in a runoff election on June 10, which McCallum won.

Newark City Council, West Ward, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Joseph A. McCallum, Jr.	67.5%	1,754
Patricia J. Bradford	32.3%	840
Write-in	0.2%	5
Total Votes		2,599
Source: Essex County Clerk's Office - 2014 Runoff Election Results

Newark City Council, West Ward, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Joseph A. McCallum, Jr.	26.1%	1,624
Patricia J. Bradford	21%	1,303
Robert Kevin Waters	17.9%	1,114
Anton Wheeler	3.9%	245
Sheila Montague	6.1%	380
Anthony R. Higgins	3.7%	233
Maryam Bey	15.2%	943
Rashawn Davis	5.8%	363
Write-in	0.1%	9
Total Votes		4,666
Source: Essex County Clerk's Office - 2014 Election Results

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sheila Montague did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Sheila Montague did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Sheila Montague did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2021

Sheila Montague did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Sheila Montague did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

The below survey was included in a candidate profile written on Montague by the Newark Trust for Education.

“	Based on your qualifications and experience, what makes you a suitable candidate to serve on the Newark Public Schools Advisory Board ? For all of my adult life, I have served my community through the vehicle of education. I have had the opportunity to grow fractions of our society through teaching not just academics, but social growth as well. One core concept that accompanies coaching basketball and debate, teaches our youth early on that discipline, good listening skills, execution of best practices and being parts of a whole are key elements to effective citizenship that sustains a successful community. Understanding these essential attributes and having a strong academic background in administration and supervision form Seton Hall, makes for a wonderful mixture of ingredients for an adequate candidate to serve on the Newark Public Schools Board. What are your reasons for running? As a home owner, tax payer, parent and stakeholder, I feel that it is my responsibility to do more to help my society grow. In twenty years of helping students I discovered that the very best way to help a child is to be more dutiful in helping their parents. I have assisted and encouraged hundreds of parents to go back to school and redirect happier paths for their desired outcomes. It was so fulfilling to see the increase of happier students prevail, that I decided to continue serving my community on a higher level. And what better way to serve my community than to be apart of the decision making processes of The Newark Public Schools Board? I see this as the ideal way to insure the education gets prioritized in our city, straight form the table of decision making at the onset. Are you running with an organizational slate? If so, please provide information about your platform. I am running as a parent-teacher team mate to Jason Dotson. Somewhere along the line, a division has developed between the teachers and the parents. It is my goal that that relationship is re-established to ensure that I students thrive and have a dependable resource of support when needed. We are pushing for a hub in every ward where parents will be welcomed to come in at any time to address concerns and have their needs met. Community information will be readily on hand for them, such a services offered that otherwise they may not know about, i.e. food, shelter, clothing depots, curriculum information, workshops, etc. We also are encouraging that STEAM be implemented in to the curriculum to insure that our students are having access to adequate music, art, dance, wood/mechanical shop, home economics, recess, as well as gym, daily. Additionally, our platform includes collaborating with every entity available to increase safety for our children, by examining situations of bullying, as well as analyzing the urgent situation with lead in our students water and to not only take each and every proper precaution needed moving forward, but to also be transparent with our findings, to the community, to maximize expediency in resolution. Moreover, we want to be a part of the change that initiates taking the politics out of education. Teachers and parents provide an excellent collaborative foundation to accomplish this goal. What are your priorities for the district in the coming year? Our top priorities for the year are to: Get to work on resolving this issue with our water and insuring that these filters are up to date. Insuring that every classroom has a certified teacher. Demanding that the Amistad Act is implemented into each and every classroom and our students know their history. Taking full responsibility to evaluate where exactly our district money is going. There will NOT be $230,000 being spent on food from local catering companies all day by any superintendent/staff, while our students are being denied breakfast for arriving five minutes late after a two hour bus ride! At least, these are are highest goals we will be achieving. What attributes and qualifications do you consider essential for effective school board members? The ability to listen and evaluate situations ranks high in my opinion. Common sense and book smarts are a wonderful combination for a board member to be in receipt of because it allows for good independent decision making that is geared toward positives outcomes, as opposed to political agendas. The nine board members can only function at their optimum to serve a community when each are acting as sincere parts to a whole and not merely puppets. We have a moral obligation to not ever place politics over the masses. My additional training as it relates to philosophy, secures my understanding of logic in decision making. My supplemental training in African American history gives me a deeper knowledge, understanding and sensitivity to the plight of what my people are enduring and how to best be a part of the solution holistically. And my fear of God insures that I will be bound to make the best decisions for All of his children, not just some.	”
—Sheila Montague

2015

Essex County Politics published the following opinion piece by Montague on March 23, 2015:

“	The Newark Public School system is currently in the process of completing the first round of district mandated PARCC testing. The PARCC test is yet another example of what is becoming of the world of education. Big business and profits have replaced real educational opportunities for students. This is a disturbing trend that has unfortunately become the norm rather than the exception, nationwide. As an educational advocate for the city of Newark, let me add my voice to the thousands upon thousands pleading for this gross injustice to cease. As citizens of the largest school district in the state of New Jersey, we need to be the strongest and loudest voice in saying no to the PARCC exam; a money making scam by big business hidden under the veil of educational reform. Spearheading the charge of these corporate raiders is the Pearson Corporation, which has rapidly ascended to the forefront of the conversation on educational reform. Pearson’s reach has extended with blinding quickness to envelope the world of education. Backed by huge corporations and conglomerates, Pearson is striving for an economic monopoly on the field of education. Big money machines such as Teach for America, The Libyan Investment group and the Koch brothers all have close ties and financial stakes in Pearson. They make investments and sit back and collect while Pearson bulldozes over any and all competition in a push to profit from education. How is this linked to us and the PARCC exam, you may ask? Standardized testing and the cost to administer them are big business. And who manufactures the PARCC exam? You guessed it: The Pearson group. Pearson was instrumental in pushing the initiatives linked to Race to The Top; something they have profited handsomely from in numerous ways. One of the means of profit, being the fact that Race to the Top requires significant data accumulation, Pearson partnered with the Gates Foundation to be the ones to store the data. Pearson also partnered with the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State Schools Officers. This gives them a tremendous level of influence on reform and policy. When the plan for the Common Core Standards was hatched, Pearson had input into the process. The Pearson group paid to fly the policymakers to Singapore for extravagant “education” trips to promote the educational methods that they want to put into place. All of these investments have resulted in millions and millions of dollars worth of profits at the expense of what is best for children. As an advocate for underprivileged students of color and an educator of more than 20 years, I have made it my business to know what is going on in the world of education and politics. An insidious plan is afoot and our children will be the ones who suffer for it if we do not stand up and fight back. And If we are to fight back, we need to know who were fighting against. The Pearson group is at the top of that list. Join me and my community based organization, CTLT (Changing The Lens Together ), as we strive to push back against the corporate raiders who seek to profit off of us and our community. Together we can change the lens and achieve excellence for our children.	”
—Sheila Montague (2015)

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Sheila Montague campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House New Jersey District 10	Lost primary	$0	N/A**
Grand total			$0	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

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Footnotes

[show]

New Jersey's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Cory Booker (D)

Andrew Kim (D)

Representatives

District 1

Donald Norcross (D)

District 2

Jeff Van Drew (R)

District 3

Herbert Conaway (D)

District 4

Chris Smith (R)

District 5

Josh Gottheimer (D)

District 6

Frank Pallone (D)

District 7

Thomas Kean (R)

District 8

Robert Menendez (D)

District 9

Nellie Pou (D)

District 10

LaMonica McIver (D)

District 11

Mikie Sherrill (D)

District 12

Bonnie Coleman (D)

Democratic Party (11)

Republican Party (3)