Habemus Mapum, Save Jerseyans! Let the 2012 speculation begin.
Go ahead and click here to see a pdf of the new congressional map.
Early reactions are plentiful. A well-placed State House source tells Save Jersey that South Jersey Democrats are now strongly considering Bill Castner to face off against Rep. Jon Runyan next November in the Third Congressional District.
Other early favorites for the nomination reportedly included Asm. Lou Greenwald (D-Voorhees) and his LD6 district mate, Pam Lampitt (D-Cherry Hill). But with Voorhees remaining in Rob Andrews’s CD1 and Cherry Hill moving there, too, Castner (D-Mount Laurel) may be the cheese who stands alone in a congressional district almost completely devoid of Democrat star power and organizational prowess.
Castner is an attorney who formerly served in a variety of major New Jersey Democrat positions including as both Assembly Democratic executive director and former Governor Corzine’s chief counsel. He was allegedly considered to replace Rob Andrews back in 2008 when Andrews sought Frank Lautenberg’s U.S. Senate Seat.
Will he? Won’t he? And will it matter?
In 2010, the late John Adler beat Runyan by almost 5,000 votes in Cherry Hill, a bustling Philadelphia suburb with nearly 80k residents and a vast commercial base; it also remains the physical and spiritual headquarters of the regional machine. Adler nevertheless went on to lose by 3% district-wide.
Yes, anything can happen, but CD3 has to be considered a definite “lean Republican” district without Cherry Hill.
Stay tuned…
