An open state Senate seat is something to fight over.

Even more so when an Assembly seat may be vacant too.

All that fun is starting in LD-26, which includes eastern Morris County and a small sliver of northern Passaic County.

Joe Pennacchio - or "Jersey Joe" as he called himself once - began it all Tuesday morning when he said he would not seek reelection. He's been in the state Senate since 2008.

Republicans, of course, were drubbed last week in New Jersey and across the nation, but Pennacchio says that had no impact on his decision, which he says was made prior to Nov. 3.

Not that anywhere cares when he made it. The seat is opening up. That's what counts.

The district's two Assembly members are Brian Bergen and Jay Webber.

Bergen is reportedly not interested in the Senate seat. That's because he's aiming higher than that. Bergen has talked about running for governor in 2029.

Webber, on the other hand, wants the seat.

A lot in politics tends to go round and round and that's the case with Webber.

Way back in 2003, Webber's initial entry into Morris County politics was seeking the LD-26 Senate seat. He challenged incumbent state Sen. Robert Martin, losing the primary by about 2,000 votes.

A few years later, he got to the Assembly and has been there ever since. He did run for Congress in 2018, losing to Mikie Sherrill in the 11th District.

Assuming Webber runs for the Senate next year, he will relinquish his Assembly seat. You can expect a spirited battle for that one too,

One man who says he is already in the Assembly race is Tom Mastrangelo, a Morris County Commissioner.

Mastrangelo challenged Pennacchio for the Senate seat in 2023. It was a bitter campaign, which Mastrangelo lost by about 3,000 votes.

Around that time, Mastrangelo was on the outs with his colleagues on the board of commissioners, who even had filed an ethics complaint against him with the state.

Things change.

The complaint went nowhere and Mastrangelo apparently mended fences with his fellow commissioners. Go figure.

Then again, don't expect that good feeling to last if some of the commissioners seek the open Assembly seat for themselves.

As news of Pennacchio's retirement reverberated around the district, leaders of both parties chimed in.

Said Laura Ali, the Morris GOP chair:

"It's sad to me that Sen Pennacchio is leaving the Senate. He was a great legislator and leader in our party and did so much good for so many. I will miss him greatly."

Darcy Draeger, the county's Democratic chair, had a different take, calling it a "real opportunity."

"LD-26 has been moving steadily in our direction," she said. "Our Assembly candidates went from averaging 43 percent of the vote in 2023 to 47 percent in 2025, putting us in striking distance. Pennacchio's retirement removes a longtime incumbent and gives us an open seat race at a time when GOP support in the district is weakening. LD-26 is absolutely on our list of competitive districts for 2027, and we will approach it as a race we can win, not just one where we can narrow the margin."

Just for the record, registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district by about 11,000 voters.