June in New Jersey: The Races to Watch

So in a week New Jerseyans everywhere will be heading to the polls to vote in their respective partisan primary elections. A few months back there was a ton of speculation that our late voting state could have still been relevant to the GOP Presidential Primary contest.

Well clearly that did not pan out. Not that I am complaining.

Governor Romney is briskly strolling into his new position as the Republican nominee and riding neck and neck in the daily tracking polls with President Obama. The race is too close to call, but the New Jersey primary wont be. Romney, being the only real contender left in the race and the candidate with the backing of Governor Chris Christie, will run away with the vote as he has in pretty much every state lately.

That is really all there is to say about that race, but what about the others?

Here are some of the biggest races going on this month in our Garden State . . .

6th District GOP Congressional Primary – Ernesto Cullari vs. Anna Little

This is a race I have been following closely over the last few weeks. Anna Little began the year running for US Senate, and then not running, and then running, and then not running. You get the point. When the dust finally settled near the top of the ticket, Little decided she would take another crack at Frank Pallone, whom she came closer to defeating than anyone else in his career, losing by roughly 11 percentage points in 2010. Little received the party line in Middlesex County from GOP Chairman and State Senator Sam Thompson in this go around.

Ernesto Cullari had a completely different start. Reportedly he was dancing the tango with a pretty woman when he received a call from some Monmouth Republicans asking him to run for Congress. Since then Cullari has picked up the party line in Monmouth County, where his opponent lives and was a Mayor for a few years.

This race is important for a few reasons. For one thing, it will be a test of the resilience of “Anna’s Army,” the group of volunteers and supporters who propelled Anna Little to an unexpected primary victory in 2010 and a closer than expected general that November. My understanding has been that Little’s base of support has been among Tea Party folks in the shore areas. Second, it will be interesting to see how the faithful the party-faithful really are in their respective counties. With Cullari in the party endorsed column in Monmouth and Little holding the same in Middlesex, will the two simply split the district along county lines? At this point, with no polling in sight, it is hard to tell.

The race has gotten ugly at times. There was that odd campaign literature put out by some Little supporters that slammed Cullari for being born in the Philippines (by the way, he was born in New Jersey). Then there were some groups reportedly attempting to bait the candidates into a debate. Finally there have been charges that Little has not filed with the FEC as a candidate for congress yet, which would be quite strange with the primary less than a week away.

The big story for this race will be whether the seemingly unbeatable Frank Pallone can have his margins shaved down again. If Little were able to come that close while being outspent nearly five-to-one, what could she or Cullari do with a bit more money and a continuing trend of support from the last cycle? It will surely be exciting to watch the Pallone campaign go into panic mode to protect a seat that is supposed to be safe.

9th District Democrat Congressional Primary – Bill Pascrell vs. Steve Rothman

When the new map was unveiled in Trenton last December, very few people in New Jersey were more unhappy than Steve Rothman. Thrown under the bus by his own party, Rothman would be forced to face off against Scott Garrett in a +5 Republician district that spanned across to the western side of the New Jersey, an area where liberals like Rothman have likely never seen, let alone campaigned in.

Instead of manning up and taking the fight to the conservative congressman, Rothman decided to put his tail between his legs and retreat to the south. He decided to take on his former congressional buddy, long time liberal representative Bill Pascrell. This was a move that Democrats throughout the state did not particularly appreciate, but after the entertainment these two have given us over the last few weeks, who could possibly stay mad?

The Pascrell vs. Rothman primary fight has essentially devolved into the antithesis of every trend in American politics over the last three years. While most candidates for public office are arguing over how we are going to cut the debt and deficit, or how we are going to reform the tax code and make a better business climate for a slowly recovering economy, these two have simply plugged their ears and continued charging to the left. Rothman and Pascrell constantly fight over who is the bigger liberal and who spends more money, even though their constituents send far more to Washington in taxes than either politicians brings back home.

This race is also an Obama vs. Clinton proxy battle. David Axelrod was in the district recently to support Rothman on behalf of the President, while former President Bill Clinton did a robocall and will be stumping for Pascrell in Paterson this week.

The polling has been insanely close in this race, with reports saying that internals are showing a neck and neck contest. It is quite literally too close to call, but there can only be one.

10th District Democrat Special Election – Rice vs. Flynn vs. Gill vs. Payne, Jr. vs. Smith vs. Wright

After the rather sudden death of Congressman Donald Payne earlier this year, a large scale battle for incumbency heading into November’s election got underway. There was plenty of speculation heading into the filing season and with a few exceptions, all of the obvious suspects got in the race. Save Jersey did not cover this campaign all that heavily, mostly because the seat is insanely safe for the Democrats, so let them fight it out on their own. However, that doesn’t mean it has not been noteworthy and shouldn’t be watched on election day.

Despite the long list of candidates (I hope that I am not forgetting anyone up there), the race is essentially a three way between Newark Councilman Ronald Rice, Newark Council President Donald Payne, Jr., and State Senator Nila Gill. This race has been similar to the Pascrell/Rothman bloodbath in that each candidate wants to be seen as more liberal than the others. Gill has been pushing the fact that she is a woman, even going so far as to say that if she does not win, New Jersey will not have any female members of its congressional delegation. Talk about having no faith in Shelley Adler down in the 3rd district! Payne, who has been endorsed by Nancy Pelosi, says he will essentially continue his father’s legacy. To be honest, no matter who wins this race, they will likely vote the exact same way that Donald Payne, Sr. did when he served the district. The battle is significantly more interesting than any potential aftermath.

Monmouth County GOP Chairman Election – Hanlon vs. Bennett

About a week ago Christine Hanlon announced her intention to run for Monmouth County GOP Chair, and not long after the list of support started to grow. Hanlon has been advertising the fact that she apparently has 394 out of 768 county committee members behind her. She also put out a letter of support from a number of state legislators with ties to the county.

Hanlon will be taking on former New Jersey Governor John Bennett, who reportedly has “locked up” support in western Monmouth. However, if Hanlon’s count is correct, then she clearly has more than the simple majority required to assume the position.

These intra-party struggles are always fun to watch, especially when they aren’t particularly ugly.

Speaking of particularly ugly . . .

Bergen County GOP Chairman Election – Yudin vs. Rottino vs. McCann

Bob Yudino (left) and Anthony Rottino (right) are competing to lead the BCRO. A third candidate, John McCann, is not pictured above.

If you want to see ugly, go and watch what has been happening at the BCRO this year. After some disappointing defeats up and down the ballot in 2011, there was quite a bit of finger pointing going on in Hackensack, and unfortunately for current Chairman Bob Yudin, many of the fingers went his way.

The Bergen GOP should theoretically be on top of the world, after essentially taking over the county government by accident in 2009 and 2010, the organization seemed to be in the midst of a major comeback. And then the bottom fell out. Unsuccessful senate and assembly campaigns, infighting among freeholders and the county executive, all topped off with sour grapes from people who never supported Yudin to begin with brought the BRCO to where it is today.

All anecdotal indicators from anyone I talk to up in Bergen seem to point to Rottino coming away with the win. He also has an impressive list of supporters, but that does not mean Yudin will be going down easily. McCann is largely seen as a spoiler. Yudin is pushing for a meeting, set for tomorrow, that will determine whether McCann can stay in the race based on some fishy petitions floating around. The Rottino camp has denied any involvement in the matter.

Some have called for peace in Bergen County, but don’t expect it any time soon. This thing seems like it will get worst before it gets better, and whoever comes away with the win should not expect to celebrate for long. There is much work to be done in North Jersey.

 

Brian McGovern
About Brian McGovern 748 Articles
Brian McGovern wears many hats these days including Voorhees Township GOP Municipal Chairman, South Jersey attorney, and co-owner of the Republican campaign consulting firm Exit 3 Strategies, Inc.

3 Comments

  1. Apparently, you have forgotten about the 7th Congressional Race which pits Rep. Lance against the True Conservative, Dave Larsen.

  2. Also forgotten to mention the GOP County Chairman fight. Joe Adolf from Berlin is challenging Tom Booth for the position.

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