Bergen County Democrats are increasingly looking at former Oakland Mayor Linda Schwager as a candidate for Surrogate to replace Michael Dressler, the longtime Democratic incumbent who died on December 4

Bergenfield Mayor Arvin Amatorio has been seeking party support for Surrogate, and he is well-liked among party leaders.  But his town already has an assemblyman, Chris Tully, and a county commissioner, Raphael Marte, and there is growing concern that adding a surrogate could be too much in a county with seventy municipalities.

Englewood Municipal Court Judge Helene Herbert is also quietly mulling a run for surrogate; Dressler’s widow, Agata, has been advocating for her candidacy.

A former president of the Bergen County Bar Association, Schwager won three terms as mayor of Oakland, a Republican-leaning town, before losing re-election by just 21 votes out of nearly 4,400 cast in 2023 to Republican Eric Kulmala.  She lost a council race the following year.

In 2017, Schwager was the Democratic nominee for State Senate in the 39th district against 11-term Republican incumbent Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest).  Cardinale won what would become his final term – he died in 2021 – by a 53%-47% margin.  Schwager won eight municipalities: Closter, Demarest, Dumont, Harrington Park, Haworth, Oakland, Norwood, and Westwood.

Herbert has served as a municipal court judge in several other towns, including Moonachie and Wallington, and is a former Wallington councilwoman.  She was the Democratic nominee for State Assembly in the 38th district in 1999, losing to incumbents Rose Marie Heck (R-Hasbrouck Heights) and Guy Talarico (R-Oradell) by roughly 3,300 votes.

She ran for State Senate in 2001 but lost the Democratic primary to Joseph Coniglio, the Paramus Democratic municipal chair, but lost by a 79%-21% margin.

Since Dressler’s death, Deputy Surrogate Sharon Borys has served as acting surrogate.  She can hold that post until the governor appoints an interim replacement with the advice and consent of the State Senate, or until the winner of the 2026 general election is certified.

Republicans have not won a countywide election in Bergen County since 2013.