State of the County
Leading Mercer County Down a New Path
By Matt Beardmore
Dan Benson’s roots in Mercer County run deep.
He is a fifth-generation Hamiltonian and his family has lived in the area since 1919. Today, Benson and his wife, Dr. Hande Benson, are raising their 9-year-old son Nicholas in Hamilton Township with family right next door and just down the street.
So when Benson, along with fellow community members and officials, became concerned about the direction the county government was taking in recent years, Benson took a chance – in fact, he called it “a bit of a leap.” He decided not to seek another term in the New Jersey General Assembly and to make a run for the Mercer County Executive position instead.
Now, a year since nearly seven of ten voters who went to the polls selected Benson to lead Mercer County on a new path, the first-year County Executive is proud of how morale at the County has improved, how missteps from the previous administration are being addressed and how a strong foundation is being laid for future projects. But Benson, as well as anyone, understands that the work in the Capital County has just begun.
Born in 1975, Benson spent his childhood in the Broad Street Park neighborhood of Hamilton Township, near Trenton, enjoying a variety of outdoor activities such as walking to the lake and along the trails, picking up turtles and frogs and building forts with his friends.
Family has always played an important role in Benson’s life – and family members have never been far away. His great-grandmother and great aunt lived a block away from his childhood home, where Benson lived with his parents, Robert and Peggy, and his older brother, Michael, who now lives in Henderson, Nevada. Benson has fond memories of Sunday family dinners and playing pinochle at his grandmother’s house. He also recalls how his mother, a stay-at-home mom, would take her sons on countless summertime walks, as she never really drove.
“It was nice to have that very stable environment with family around,” Benson said. “My mom was sick a lot growing up so when I was young my grandmother and great aunt helped raise me with my dad.”
Benson’s father, who Benson told The Father Center of New Jersey earlier this year was a jack-of-all-trades and the glue that held the family together during challenging times, sold insurance for Prudential and later worked at the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance in Consumer Affairs. Benson’s father passed away in 2006 due to lung cancer.
Benson’s mother has lived next door since 2018, and his in-laws also reside on the same street. Benson and his wife, whom he met while both lived in the same dorm at Georgetown University, moved to the White Horse section of Hamilton Township in 2003.
“I’ve always had family close,” Benson said. “It’s great for my son now since he has his pick of which grandparent he wants to go visit.”
Benson’s great-grandfather was active with the Broad Street Civic Association, but the Benson family was “never really involved with politics,” the County Executive said. As a paper carrier from the age of ten until he graduated high school, Benson – a self-described “math and science kid” – had the opportunity to read about current events and he was definitely not shy about voicing his opinions to teachers and friends’ parents. “A lot of my teachers said I should think about studying more about policy, so in my senior year of high school – in a class that’s unique to Hamilton – I was part of ‘GALRE,’ which stands for Government and Law-Related Experiences,” Benson said.
As part of this class, Benson, then 16 years old, volunteered for the 1992 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign, making phone calls and going door to door in different neighborhoods to speak with potential voters. “I really enjoyed having those conversations,” Benson said.
After earning a bachelor’s in physics and government from Georgetown and a master’s in public policy from Rutgers University in 1999, Benson was knocking on doors again (more than 9,000 of them) and was elected to the Hamilton Township Council at the age of 25. He served from 2002-2005, including as the Council President the last two years. From 2008-2011, Benson served on the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders – a body now known as the “Board of County Commissioners,” before spending the next 12 years as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly.
“I was very close with the mayors and local officials in Mercer County,” Benson, a Democrat, said of his experience representing the 14th Legislative District in the General Assembly. “For a while, folks in Mercer County were concerned about the direction of the County. The prior County Executive [Brian Hughes] was not keeping up relationships and not being responsive. Most concerning was that the County’s finances were not in good shape and the information was not getting out to the public.”
“I thought the previous County Executive was going to retire, but when we learned in the summer of 2022 that he was looking to run again, I received a lot of encouragement from the community and local officials,” Benson added. “Announcing that I was not going to run for reelection [for the State Legislature] was a bit of a leap, but I had to take a chance given the dire situation of the county.”
After Benson received the overwhelming endorsement of the Mercer County Democratic Committee in March 2023, longtime County Executive Brian Hughes dropped his bid for a sixth term, leaving Benson to run unopposed in the Democratic primary in June of that year.
In the Nov. 7, 2023, General Election, Benson received 48,257 votes to Republican Lisa Marie Richford’s 20,835 to become Mercer County’s fifth County Executive.
“The road ahead won’t always be easy. We may not always agree on every issue but as County Executive, one thing’s for sure — you’ll always know where I stand,” Benson said on Election Night. “Now the real work begins. We’ve got a lot to do, and I need your help to get it done.”
Since Benson’s four-year term officially began on Jan. 4 when he took the Oath of Office during a swearing-in ceremony at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton — on the same stage where he, his brother and their father graduated from Hamilton High School West — his focus has been on establishing “collaboration, transparency and professionalism” as cornerstones of his administration.
When Benson’s Administration released its 100-Day Accomplishments on April 10, some of the highlights included: completing the overdue 2022 Mercer County Audit, drafting initial revisions to the Mercer County Code, updating the Board of Commissioners on the IRS penalties incurred during the last Administration, recreating and identifying missing or incorrect Mercer County financial documents, launching a new round of zero-interest loans for local small businesses, finishing a comprehensive After Action Review of the County’s COVID-19 response and appointing Mercer residents to numerous County Boards and Commissions.
Mind you, this was all accomplished as the county was digging itself — and continues to dig itself — out of a financial mess, which Benson said during his May Budget Address includes “Four-and-a-half million dollars in fines and interest that the State Comptroller’s office revealed last year,” “over 10 million dollars in deferred changes that must now be paid for in the 2024 budget” and the previous administration failing “to budget for close to 1 million dollars in unfunded county debt that was due to be paid in 2022.”
“After the budget was done, the honeymoon is probably over,” Benson said, referring to the tax rate increase of 1.3 cents for every 100 dollars of assessed property value. “But at the same time, we’re reestablishing a strong partnership between the county and local governments and we’re really hearing from the community and meeting people where they are. I’ve spent a lot of time in Trenton and talking to residents about the challenges we’re facing and how we’re turning the corner.”
Benson had that same conversation with the Princeton Mercer Chamber of Commerce at two events this year. At the Mercer ELC Luncheon on March 8, he spoke about his vision for the future of Mercer County. At the Trenton Economic Event on July 31, Benson had an open discussion with 150 local business leaders about “several major projects and initiatives that will promote economic expansion in the Capital City.”
“It was a great opportunity to be transparent and open about the challenges that exist in the County,” said Benson, who will provide additional updates on County programs, departments and initiatives at the State of the County Address. “They were excited with new leadership, but they were as shocked as we were about how bad things had gotten. They were also pleasantly surprised about the capital investments that were being planned to generate more economic activity despite these challenges.”
Examples of upcoming projects in the Capital City include the creation of Mercer County’s first Office of Travel & Tourism in preparation for the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026, modernizing the Trenton-Mercer Airport, breaking ground on the Trenton-Mercer Airport Firehouse and partnering with Trenton to revitalize South Broad Street (new streetscaping, sidewalks, etc.).
“We are also looking to bring a Single-A or Double-A minor league baseball team back to Trenton to generate a lot more foot traffic in our Capital City,” Benson said.
Previously the New York Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, the Thunder have played in the MLB Draft League since the Bronx Bombers chose the Somerset Patriots in Bridgewater Township to be their new Double-A club starting in the 2021 season. The Thunder remain as popular as ever – they led the six-team league in average attendance this past season at 5,289 – but renovations are needed at the 30-year-old Trenton Thunder Ballpark. At the August 18, 2024, Mercer County Board of Commissioners Meeting, a grant through the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs was approved “to begin facility upgrades at Trenton Thunder Stadium.”
“County Executive [Dan] Benson has done a fantastic job trying to help us get back to the affiliated side,” Thunder team president Jeff Hurley told The Trentonian in September. “We have a lot of projects that are going on starting this offseason. We’re excited to move in that right direction and hopefully it happens and happens soon. I can’t put a timetable on it.”
While Benson has an eye on bringing affiliated baseball back to Trenton, his attention is also out West where his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers reached the MLB playoffs for a 12th consecutive season in 2024 – two shy of the all-time record. “I love pitchers, and I grew up in the ‘80s watching Dodgers pitchers Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser. Now I really enjoy watching Shohei Ohtani. It’s a great time to be a Dodgers fan.”
With Benson and his Administration delivering on their goal “to bring new ideas and thoughtful innovation to county government,” and starting to “turn vision into action,” it is also a great time – once again – to live, work and play in Mercer County.
