A Jewish rabbi’s 11th hour Democrat candidacy is making the Assembly race in LD30 more competitive than usual.
How competitive exactly? Stay tuned. We’re still rating it as “likely Republican,” Save Jerseyans, but given how red this Jersey Shore district is on paper, anything less than “safe” is enough to give GOP leadership circles serious cause for concern.
One of the Republican Assembly incumbents – Ned Thomson – believes the Democrats’ attempt to pander to a single voting bloc (Lakewood’s sizable and relatively conservative Jewish community) little more than a cynical pander and evidence of panic on the Left side of the aisle.
“The Democrats are more worried about this election than they have been in years, and rightfully so,” Thomson told Save Jersey on Monday. “We have the best chance at a Republican majority in 20 years thanks to the new map. The Democrats know that they cannot win on any issues this November, so rather than bring those issues to our district to let voters decide, they think they can pick up a seat by flipping one voter bloc. Unfortunately, the Democratic party does not even remotely align with the values of that bloc.”
The Assemblyman also stressed the Democrat majority’s failure to address LD30-specific concerns notwithstanding plenty of opportunity.
“Adding one seat to their caucus is not going to magically make them come around to fixing Route 9, supporting school choice, or allowing parents to have a say in what is appropriate for their children to learn in school,” added Thomson, an actuary and Neptune City native. “The Democrats have had decades with a majority to address these issues and failed on every front. The only way to put New Jersey on the right track is to gain a Republican majority, and voting for a Democrat- no matter who that Democrat may be- only increases the odds of a radical liberal agenda coming out of Trenton for another decade.”
Thomson has served in the Assembly since then-Assemblyman Dave Rible left the legislature to serve as Director of the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. He’s seeking reelection this fall alongside Sean Kean (no relation to the congressman of the same last name) and Senator Bob Singer.
The Monmouth portion of LD30 is home to approximately 72,500 voters while the Lakewood portion boasts 60,000. In order to pull off an upset, Avi Schnall (D-Lakewood) needs to pull a very strong but hardly impossible turnout and margin in Lakewood to knock off the low GOP votegetter.
Schnall’s candidacy is seen as less of an ideological shift than an attempt by Lakewood to gain influence in what is more-likely-than-not to be a Democrat Assembly majority come January albeit possibly reduced by a few or several seats.
