NEW BRUNSWICK - Mayor James Cahill was the only candidate for mayor to run in Tuesday’s primary, but he will not run uncontested for re-election in November.

Charles Kratovil, a local activist and editor of the blog New Brunswick Today, filed petitions to run as an independent candidate for the city’s top office.

Cahill received 1,145 votes as the only candidate seeking the Democratic Party nomination for mayor. No Republicans sought their party's nomination for the seat.

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Council incumbents Kevin Egan and Rebecca Escobar each received 1,152, just a few more than than Cahill. They were the only candidates seeking nomination by either party.

Kratovil, a frequent critic of the mayor and his administration, is expected to formally announce his campaign Wednesday afternoon to become the 63rd mayor in the history of the Hub City.

Cahill first took office in 27 years ago, in 1991, after serving 11 years as assistant city attorney.

He ran uncontested for re-election four years ago. In that 2014 race, the mayor received 3,019 votes.

The last time the mayor was in a contested general election was 2006, when he defeated James Neal with 80 percent of the vote. Cahill received 3,666 votes; Neal got 944 votes.





Democrats have a huge edge in the city. As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 22,742 registered voters in New Brunswick, of which 8,732 (38.4%) were registered as Democrats, 882 (3.9%) were registered as Republicans and 13,103 (57.6%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 25 voters registered to other parties.