Editor's Note: This article has been updated as of June 6, 2026, 9:00 PM, to better clarify the historical and electoral context.
EDISON, N.J. — Three days before the deadline to get on New Jersey's November ballot, Green Party petitioners gathered signatures on the sidewalk near the Barnes & Noble entrance at Menlo Park Mall. A store employee reported them for soliciting. Mall security arrived first, with Edison Police following. Officers escorted the candidates through the mall interior to their vehicle before letting them leave.
Lily Benavides filmed the May 30 incident in a livestream posted to her social media. She identifies herself in a May 31 press release as a petitioning candidate for the U.S. Senate. Savitha Gokulraman, whom the press release names as a petitioning candidate for New Jersey's 6th Congressional District, is identified in the release as present during the incident; a woman in a pink jacket appears alongside Benavides in the video. The footage shows Benavides wearing a keffiyeh and a green "Vote Green Party" button as she walks from the outdoor pedestrian walkway into the mall, followed by two Edison police officers and security personnel in neon yellow shirts.
One officer, identified by his nameplate as Guerrero, badge 535, tells the group the mall is private property and they must leave. A second video obtained by the Jersey Alerts Facebook group captures a female officer discussing the mall's private property status with the candidates. The candidates stood on a paved walkway near the mall entrance adjacent to the parking area, not in the parking lot itself. Benavides states in her press release that the group did not obstruct customers, impede pedestrian traffic, interfere with business operations or cause any disruption.
Comments from viewers appear on the livestream screen. At 1:05, Geoff Sebesta writes: "Don't let the bastards grind you down Lily!" Sebesta is a Kentucky operative who collected signatures for Benavides' 2025 gubernatorial bid in New Jersey. A Democratic Party challenge invalidated 446 of those signatures on grounds that he was not a state resident eligible to vote. In the video Benavides describes a Barnes & Noble employee as "some black guy" who reported the group for soliciting. Her press release offers a different account, stating that the employee approached and directed them to leave.
New Jersey courts have previously recognized that large shopping malls function as modern public gathering places and have afforded constitutional protection to certain forms of political expression in those spaces. In New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East v. J.M.B. Realty Corp., 138 N.J. 326 (1994), thestate Supreme Court held that political leafleting in large regional shopping malls is protected expression. In Green Party of New Jersey v. Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc., 164 N.J. 127 (2000), the court applied that reasoning to petition signature gathering, striking down insurance requirements the Newport Centre Mall in Jersey City had imposed on petitioners.
Whether either precedent applies to the Menlo Park Mall incident remains unresolved. The second video shows officers asserting that the mall is privately owned and management may exclude petitioners without citing a specific violation.
Edison Mayor Sam Joshi and Police Chief Thomas Bryan demanded tighter security at Menlo Park Mall after a May 17, 2025 brawl involving roughly 300 juveniles, according to MyCentralJersey. The mall sits on Route 1 in Edison Township, Middlesex County, on land owned by Simon Property Group. Simon Property Group has not issued a public statement on the May 30 incident or on its policy toward political activity at the mall. Edison Police have not released a statement or incident report on the encounter. Police did not say whether they issued a formal trespass notice or filed any summonses.
The incident came at a critical moment for the party. New Jersey's independent candidate petition deadline was June 2 at 4 p.m. A Green Party member who shared the videos with the Jersey Alerts Facebook group said the party's candidates missed that deadline by roughly nine minutes, when an individual delivering petition materials arrived late. She blamed logistical problems collecting signatures from multiple people. Benavides' May 31 press release makes no mention of a rejection and the Division of Elections has not confirmed one. Under state law, independent candidates for U.S. Senate must submit petitions bearing at least 1,000 valid signatures by the primary election deadline. House candidates need 100.
Benavides is no stranger to ballot access fights. She mounted an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2025, falling two signatures short of the threshold after a Democratic challenge invalidated 446 signatures that Sebesta collected. Administrative Law Judge Tama Hughes rejected the signatures on the basis of a Democratic Party challenge that Sebesta was not a New Jersey resident eligible to vote. Benavides told NJBallot that the votes were rejected based on "racial profiling" of petitioners, including the removal of Latino and Arab names; NJ Ballot could not independently verify these claims. Judge Hughes's ruling brought Benavides to 1,998 signatures according to the New Jersey Globe, two under the requirement.
Prior to the 2025 campaign she was also the Green Party candidate for Congress in New Jersey's 11th District in 2024, finishing with 4,780 votes (1.21 percent) against then-incumbent Democrat Mikie Sherrill.
Ballotpedia lists no Green Party candidate in the 6th District race. The site shows Democratic incumbent Frank Pallone Jr., Republican Hillary Herzig, Common Sense Independent Party candidate Fahad Akhtar and NJ Families First Party candidate Inder Soni as the filed general election candidates. The Green Party of New Jersey's website lists Louis Shockley for Senate, Andres Jinete for the 12th District and Benavides for Congress. Benavides told NJBallot that Shockley resigned from the Senate race around April for personal reasons. She added that the party has not issued a statement confirming the change because they are awaiting confirmation from the Division of Elections.
Benavides addressed the incident in a May 31 Substack press release, in a livestream video and in conversation with NJBallot. She did not answer questions in her public materials about whether the group had obtained permission from mall management before petitioning, whether she believed the 1994 or 2000 precedents applied to the Menlo Park Mall sidewalk, or whether the Green Party had submitted petitions by the June 2 deadline. Gokulraman has not issued a public statement on the incident, and the Green Party of New Jersey has said nothing beyond the candidate list posted on its website.
The June 2 petition deadline has passed. The Division of Elections has not confirmed whether any Green Party petitions were accepted. No court has ruled on whether the 1994 or 2000 precedents protect petitioners at Menlo Park Mall. Both the ballot status and the legal question remain open.
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Sources
• Green Party of New Jersey, "2026 Candidates" (June 2026)
• Ballotpedia, "New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District 2026" (June 2026)
• TheGreenPapers.com, "New Jersey 2026 House Candidates" (June 2026)
• New Jersey Globe, "Benavides Falls Two Signatures Short After Democratic Challenge Invalidates Signatures Collected by Kentucky Operative Geoff Sebesta" (August 29, 2025)
• Ballotpedia, "Lily Benavides Profile" (June 2026)
• Justia, "New Jersey Coalition Against War in the Middle East v. J.M.B. Realty Corp." (1994)
• Justia, "Green Party of New Jersey v. Hartz Mountain Industries, Inc." (2000)
• MyCentralJersey, "Edison Mayor and Police Chief Demand Menlo Park Mall Security Upgrades Following Juvenile Brawl" (May 17, 2025)
• Jersey Alerts Facebook group, video footage of May 30, 2026 incident at Menlo Park Mall, Edison (May 30, 2026)
• NJ Division of Elections, "2026 Independent Candidate Filing Requirements" (2026)
• Lily Benavides, Substack press release on Menlo Park Mall incident (May 31, 2026)
• Lily Benavides, direct communication with NJBallot (June 2026)