There’s a primary again in NJ-03.
This week, Save Jersey learned that Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith filed paperwork with the FEC to seek the GOP nomination in New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District.
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Smith made national headlines and developed a following during the pandemic by refusing to close his Bellmawr, New Jersey gym in defiance of Governor Murphy’s Covid-19 executive orders. Smith and his co-owner actually received probation this Thursday from a Superior Court judge for a contempt charge arising from their ongoing acts of civil disobedience.
Businessman and ex-punk rocker Rob Healey was briefly running uncontested in the GOP primary after one challenger changed districts and other dropped out to seek reelection to his local school board.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Andy Kim in a district that got much bluer in redistricting but which 2021 gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli came within 1-point of winning in November.
The GOP primary will pit Steve Kush – the consultant for state Senator Ed “The Trucker” Durr – in Smith’s corner against Healey consultant Chris Russell, the strategist-in-chief for Ciattarelli.
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