Students First team wins Edison Board of Education election

By Alvin Wu
Domestic Affairs
Students First team wins Edison Board of Education election

Column 2 (Students First) campaign sign for the 2025 Edison Board of Education election. ZFJ/Zoe Wu

EDISON, N.J., Nov. 4 (ZFJ) — Vishal Patel, Russell J. Azzarello, and Xiaohan “Shannon” Peng won the three available seats on the Edison Board of Education on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Column 2, the Students First team, led by a margin of about 2,000-4,000 more votes than Column 3, the Shaping Edison’s Future team.

Patel and Peng are incumbent members of the board. Patel is the current board vice president. Azzarello dropped out of running for Edison town council as a Republican candidate to join the board race instead.

Incumbent Romano lost his reelection bid and will be joining Brian Rivera, who has now lost two reelection bids in a row. Both men opposed the repeal of Policy 5756—the transgender students policy—right before last year’s board election. The board later repealed this policy in May of this year.

Taha Shaikh graduated from Edison High School in 2024 and is a newcomer.

Edison BOE members serve three year terms.

Voter turnout was at 49.47%, with 30,393 ballots cast and 61,440 registered voters.

All results are unofficial until certified by the County Board of Canvassers on or before Nov. 19, 2025.

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