“He doesn’t have the charisma of a Christie or the fire of a Fulop,” says Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics. “But in a small town like Ewing, charisma fades. Competence doesn’t. He’s turning Ewing from a pass-through town into a destination.” Steinmann is running for a full third term next year (Ewing operates under a non-partisan municipal election system, though he is affiliated with Democrats). His likely opponent? A Republican small-business owner who claims Steinmann is “soft on crime” following a string of car thefts.
Steinmann doesn’t pound a gavel. Instead, he pulls out a whiteboard and draws a pie chart showing the cost of a sharpshooter program versus a contraceptive dart program. He cites data from Rutgers. ewing nj mayor
Rather than wait for a white knight, Steinmann did something unusual: he lobbied the state for “brownfield” tax credits, pieced together $12 million in federal infrastructure money, and began demolishing the plant himself —by which he means, he put the township in the driver’s seat. “He doesn’t have the charisma of a Christie
“We’re not building skyscrapers,” Steinmann says, pushing back. “We’re building housing for the TCNJ professor who can’t afford a $500,000 single-family home. If we don’t, we become a retirement town for the wealthy and a commuter stop for everyone else.” No feature about a New Jersey mayor is complete without the “T-word.” Ewing’s property taxes, while lower than neighboring Hopewell or Princeton, have risen 18% since 2020. Steinmann blames rising pension costs and cuts in state aid. He’s turning Ewing from a pass-through town into
His administration has launched “Operation Smooth Asphalt,” a data-driven program that repaved 22 miles of local roads last year—a visible win for suburbanites. But he’s also pushed through a controversial zoning change allowing “missing middle” housing (duplexes and townhomes) near the Trenton border, angering some residents who fear density.
“You don’t win elections by talking about brownfields and soil remediation permits,” Steinmann says, gesturing at the construction crews. “You win by fixing the roads. But if you don’t fix this, there is no future.”