The Middlesex County Democratic Organization (MCDO)County Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 18, selected North Brunswick Councilwoman Shanti Narra to replace Freeholder James Polos on the Board of Chosen Freeholders. Mr. Polos submitted his resignation to the Board on Oct, 6, 2016. She will run in November of 2017 for the remainder of Freeholder Polos’ term.
Ms. Narra is a supervising attorney at The Legal Aid Society in New York, where she oversees a staff of 25 attorneys and other support staff. She is a former member of the North Brunswick Planning Board. In addition, she has served as parliamentarian to the Middlesex County Organization since 2015. Born in Hyderabad, India, Ms. Narra immigrated to the United States at the age of three. She is the first South Asian to serve on the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
She is a graduate of North Brunswick High School, Georgetown University – School of Foreign Service and the Georgetown University Law School.
“The MCDO ran a transparent and democratic process, which allowed our county committee members to select Councilwoman Narra from a field of extremely qualified candidates (four candidates),” said Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Kevin McCabe. “She will make an outstanding member of the Board of Freeholders and Middlesex County residents are fortunate to have someone with her perspective and commitment to public service on the Board.”
Matthew Hersh, District 3 Committeeman of the Highland Park Democratic Municipal Committee offered his “congratulations to Shanti Narra, whose impressive professional expertise and deep knowledge of municipal and county government will be a real asset to Highland Park and to all of Middlesex County. Congratulations and thank you also go to Jim Polos for his 17 years of service as a Middlesex County freeholder. We look forward to working with Ms Narra in her new freeholder position and with Mr. Polos in his new post at the Middlesex County Improvement Authority.
“While we were hopeful that Highland Park Councilwoman Elsie Foster-Dublin, who is immensely qualified to be a Middlesex County Freeholder, could have continued Highland Park’s presence on the county’s governing body, it was heartening to hear Freeholder-elect Narra speak about her commitment to all 25 Middlesex County towns, big and small. It was a good process and today was a good day for Middlesex County Democrats.”