From Politico NJ: Angelica Allen-McMillan, a longtime educator and currently the interim Morris County schools superintendent, is Gov. Phil Murphy’s pick to be New Jersey’s next state education commissioner, POLITICO has learned.

The nomination will be announced on Tuesday morning, according to Politico.

Allen-McMillan, if confirmed, would succeed recently departed Commissioner Lamont Repollet, now the President of Kean University, and Acting Commissioner Kevin Dehmet.

We continue to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, according to Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli.

Daily reports of cases have doubled over the course of the last month to 1k a day.

The state is experiencing widespread cases, Persichilli said.

“The virus has not stopped circulating,” the health commissioner added.

“It’s pretty clear this is up and down the state,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “It’s everywhere. At this point, it’s up to all of us. Unfortunately the cold weather is not an ally here. We’ve got to stay outside as much as we can.”

A House Majority PAC ad in CD2 hits Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew for trying to “look good” whatever cost.

Take a look at ad here:

GOP Rep. Van Drew says that Atlantic City Democratic operative Craig Callaway is a ‘smart guy’ and is on his campaign ‘to what he does’, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

Van Drew’s recent FEC filing shows a $50,000 payment to an address registered to Callaway for GOTV consulting.

“I’ve always had good support from the East Asian, Bangladeshi, Vietnamese and Black communities,” among others in Atlantic City, Van Drew said. He wants to be sure they vote, and Callaway will help him do that. “Craig is there to do what he does. He is a smart guy,” Van Drew said.

Former Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed has died, according to Planet Princeton. He was 89 and suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

The Bergen Record’s Charlie Stile dives into the recent election activity of former GOP CD11 Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who opted against re-election in 2018.

Frelinghuysen departed Congress with over $400k in his campaign account, and this year has contributed to several area GOP candidates: CD7’s Senator Tom Kean, CD11’s Rosemary Becchi, and LD25 Senator Anthony Bucco.  The former congressman has also contributed to former House colleagues.

The ELEC reports of the Perth Amboy candidates for mayor tell a significant story on the financial side of the contest.

Incumbent Mayor Wilda Diaz raked in nearly $80K and closed this month with a balance of over $4k.

But in an election with run-off potential if no one gets to 50% plus one, and Diaz enjoys advantages afforded an incumbent, maybe the more telling data concerns two of her challengers, widely seen as dogfighting to drag Diaz into a runoff.

Councilman Helmin Caba reports $33,257 cash on hand after having spent over $56K on the campaign, compared to nearly $5K spent by rival, attorney Joseph Vas, who has just shy of $572 cash on hand reported in October.

Former Governor Tom Kean has hopped into the ugly and ubiquitous CD7 ad war with a spot for his son, Tom Kean, Jr.

In the ad, paid for by Tom Kean for Congress, the elder Kean uses words like “courage” and “character” while the younger Kean plays cards with his family and tosses a stick to a dog in slow motion.

It’s a heartwarming generational juxtaposition, against the absolutely sulfuric backdrop of negative ad traffic summoned by the allies of Kean, who, in his third crack at federal office, is trying to take out incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-7).

A Democratic source today advised InsiderNJ to keep closer eye on the legislative contest in LD25, noting that Democrats have their Assembly candidate up by double digits and Senator Tony Bucco (R-25) is running behind his Democratic Party rival.

Appearing on CNBC this morning, Governor Murphy says the state is more likely to use a ‘scalpel’ approach instead of blanket restrictions in the coming months to combat COVID-19.

“We are less likely to use blunt instruments that we used in March and April when we shut the garage doors down on everything, and much more likely to use a scalpel and go into a particular community”, he said.

Read more at the Press of Atlantic City.