It is not every day that a Princeton undergraduate becomes mayor. It’s even rarer when they call their hold on the position into question, effectively turning down the job.
For the past several weeks, Thomas Emens ’25 has taken time away from his thesis research and coursework to serve as the acting mayor of his hometown, Jamesburg, N.J., in the wake of the unexpected resignation of the previous mayor, Thomas Gibbons.
On Election Day, Gibbons — who was elected for a four-year term in November 2023 — resigned. In a letter to the borough council, Gibbons attributed the decision to a “strong calling” to dedicate more time to his “family” and “faith.” In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Gibbons also cited health issues as factors leading to his resignation.
Gibbons told the ‘Prince’ that he is leaving Jamesburg in good hands with Emens.
“It was something that I [gave] a great deal of thought to, and I would not have resigned if I thought the town was in bad shape in terms of leadership … So I felt that it was a good opportunity for me just to turn it over to people who run the town the right direction, and I could take care of my personal issues, my life as well,” Gibbons said.
“[In] my very first interview with Tom, I had the wrong impression of him. I thought he was a young upstart; I had no clue as to what his background was,” Gibbons said. “Within minutes of our first conversation, I realized how intelligent he was, how invested he was in doing what was right for Jamesburg … the more I spoke to him, the more I realized, ‘this guy is the real deal, and he knows his stuff.’”
Emens is no stranger to public office: Since 2023, he’s served on Jamesburg’s town council and was selected to serve as Council President in 2024.
On campus, Emens is the President of the Princeton Transfer Association and has served on the Pace Center’s Civic Leadership Council. He also participates in the American Whig-Cliosophic Society and was a 2024 intern with the Princeton Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative.
As soon as Gibbons resigned, Emens became acting mayor. He briefly held this position earlier in the year when Gibbons was on leave. However, because Jamesburg’s government is set up in a “weak mayor, strong council” format — where more power is reserved for the council members — Emens has still played a major role in the town council as President.
Councilman Tom Goletz, who currently serves on the council, reflected on his first impressions of Emens. “When he eventually made it to the council, I met him: he’s very business-like, he’s put-together, well-spoken, intelligent, and that hasn’t changed … He works tirelessly.”
While council members have expressed faith in Emens, whether or not he is legally permitted to stay in the role is a point of contention. According to New Jersey law, if the resigning mayor is a nominee of a political party, then the municipal committee of the political party has the right to select three candidates, from which the council selects a successor. Although Gibbons ran as a Republican, he was not nominated by the Republican county committee. Emens, who is a Democrat, was the one who called for a legal review of the situation, calling his own appointment into question.
“He’s been working on a lot of our legal opinions with our attorney, and he’s been doing a lot of research, because this was a little bit of a unique situation.” Councilwoman Samantha Rampacek, who ran with Emens for council in 2023, told the ‘Prince.’ “He’s been doing a fantastic job in his role.”
The initial opinion from the borough attorney, Frederick Raffetto, said that because of possible ambiguity in the law, the borough may have needed to involve the state legislature or a judge to clarify. However, upon further guidance, the borough is now following the original approach suggested by the law, and the council will gather on Nov. 25 to vote on three candidates put forth by the Jamesburg Republican party.
Raffetto did not respond to requests for comment, but it looks as though Emens will likely have to vacate the mayorship, and return to his — more powerful — position as Council President.
“My position is I want us to get this right for Jamesburg, because regardless of how this works … I want us to make the right decision so that we’re compliant with state law,” Emens told the ‘Prince’ before the council made a final decision.
He told the ‘Prince’ that he thinks political onlookers can often get too caught up in “palace intrigue,” suggesting that who belongs in the positions is a less important matter. Emens maintains that his ultimate goal is to reimagine how the town handles its affairs, what he calls the “Jamesburg way.” He says this is in order to alleviate problems like infrastructure updates and budgetary issues due to payments of “salaries, wages, health benefits, pensions,” which means renegotiating contracts.
He described that the town’s current governance structure, “has led to an incentive structure of ‘I’m only going to do the bare minimum, and I know I’m going to get promoted’ … people don’t want to upset each other because in Jamesburg, everyone knows each other.”
“Nobody wants to go in and do hard negotiations, because you give your friend what they want so that everyone gets along. That’s the kind of ‘Jamesburg way’ that I ran saying needs to change,” Emens said.
Looking forward, Emens will continue to balance wrapping up his senior year at Princeton with his responsibilities to his borough. He sees his learning at Princeton as being closely tied to his policy work. His experience entering the mayorship actually tied back to his senior independent work.
“My thesis is actually on how mayors manipulate taxes to get reelected,” Emens said. “I’m writing about mayors and their bad behavior, and I’m in the seat of one right now.“
Emens' by-the-book behavior may come as no surprise.
Christopher Bao is an assistant News editor and the accessibility director for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Princeton, N.J. and typically covers town politics and life.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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