• Lily Benevides, a former Democratic lawmaker from New Hampshire, replaces Zielinski; 19 years ago, she narrowly defeated Pallone aide Victoria Bonney in New England legislative race

Lily Benavides, a former New Hampshire state legislator and an immigrant from Colombia, has filed 2,434 signatures to become the Green Party candidate for governor of New Jersey on the general election ballot, replacing Stephen N. Zielinski, Sr..

New Jersey Globe
By David Wildstein
August 21, 2025

Citing a serious health issue, Stephen N. Zielinski, Sr. withdrew from the race earlier this month. Party leaders picked his running mate, Lily Benavides, to replace him on the ballot, but as a minor party, the only way to secure a ballot position was to reopen the petition process and get at least 2,000 signatures on a new petition.

The deadline to file was 4 PM today.

Benavides, then known as Lily Mesa, was elected to the 400-member, tiny-sized district, New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2006 as a Democrat. She finished seventh in a field of sixteen candidates for eight seats; Democrats won six of the eight. The ninth-place finisher was Victoria Bonney, then a 20-year-old college student and now a top aide to Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch). Bonney ran 83 votes behind Benavides, but lost the general election by just 10 votes to Republican Connie Soucy, who went on to serve three terms.

Mesa campaigned as a single, 40-year-old mother of three who worked two jobs while attending Hesser College in a bid to become a paralegal. She had served on the New Hampshire Civil Rights Task Force. State representatives in New Hampshire earn $100-per-year, with no staff and no office.

As a state legislator, Benavides introduced a bill to prohibit state and local law enforcement officials from enforcing federal immigration laws. She did not seek re-election to a second term in 2008, and backed New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for president that year.

This is Benavides’ second race against the Democratic nominee, Mikie Sherrill; in 2024, she was the Green Party candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 11th district and finished third in a four-candidate field with 1.2% of the vote. She lost a race for the Parsippany school board in 2023.

Zielinski had designated Benavides as the Green Party nominee for lieutenant governor before dropping out of the race, although he never formally submitted her name.

Benavides has tapped Lisa Ryan, a software engineer, to run for LG.

The last Green Party member to hold office in New Jersey was Assemblyman Matt Ahearn (G-Fair Lawn). As a Democrat, Ahearn, a former Fair Lawn mayor, ousted longtime GOP Assemblyman Nick Felice (R-Fair Lawn) in the 38th district in 2001; he finished 332 votes ahead of another Democrat, Kay Nest, and 667 in front of Felice. Republican Assemblywoman Rose Marie Heck (R-Hasbrouck Heights) held her seat as the top vote-getter.

After Ahearn was told that the Bergen County Democratic organization would not support him for a second term, Ahearn switched to the Green Party and sought re-election as an independent. He was joined by former Fair Lawn Mayor Bob Gordon and Fort Lee Councilwoman Joan Voss, now a Bergen County Commissioner. Ahearn received 4,357 votes, about 5.4%.

In 2024, the Green Party ran candidates for U.S. Senate and in all twelve congressional districts; this year, the party fielded Zielinski and just two Assembly candidates: Robin Brownfield in the Camden-based 5th district and Steve Welzer in the Mercer/Middlesex 14th.

The last three Green Party candidates polled under one-half of one percent: Madelyn Hoffman (2021), Seth Haper Dale (2017), Welzer (2013), Jerry Coleman (2001), and Hoffman (1997); the top Green Party performer in a New Jersey governor’s race was Matthew Thielke, who received seven-tenths of one-percent in 2005. The Green Party did not field a candidate in 2009.

This was Zielinski’s third bid for public office: he received 1.8% of the vote as the Green Party candidate for State Assembly in the 12th district against Republican incumbents Ronald Dancer (R-Plumsted) and Rob Clifton (R-Matawan) in 2015; and he lost an independent bid for Shrewsbury Borough Council in 1992.