Jim Saxton

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) was in New Jersey today to hype the upcoming congressional campaigns of Linda Stender and John Adler, emphasizing the need to bring the two in to boost the Democrats’ relatively narrow majority in the House.

“We’ve worked very hard over the last number of years since the republicans took over the house to take back the house – not just for political purposes. Obviously all of us want to be in the majority, but what we really want to do is change the direction that the Republican congress and the Republican president have taken this country,” Hoyer told PolitickerNJ.com. “If we lose 15 people we lose the proposition.”

During Stender’s 2006 congressional campaign, in which she raised about $2 million without a tremendous amount of support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and managed to come within one point of unseating Rep. Mike Ferugson, Hoyer came up to New Jersey to campaign for Stender several times.

Ocean County Freeholder John Kelly 

Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly today officially entered the race for U.S. Congress, and presented himself as a pro-life, tough on terror, fiscal conservative who would serve the entire 3rd district.

A six-term freeholder running in the half of the 3rd district that has never had a congressman, Kelly said the press would continue to depict the GOP primary war he plans to wage against Medford Mayor Chris Myers as a county versus county showdown.

Congressman Christopher Smith will endorse Jack Kelly for Congress in the neighboring third district GOP primary, a move that insiders say is bugging his old friend, Jim Saxton.   Smith and Saxton have been allies since 1980, when Smith ousted a 13-term Democratic incumbent in a district that included Saxton’s hometown.  Saxton, an Assemblyman at the time, went to the State Senate in 1981, and after redistricting and the death of longtime GOP Congressman Edwin Forsythe, to Congress in 1984.  Saxton is backing Christopher Myers, the Deputy Mayor of Medford and a Vice President at Lockheed Martin.

Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly will officially announce his candidacy tomorrow, but that’s not all – he’ll also tout the support of U.S. Rep. Chris Smith.

Last week, Kelly’s likely primary opponent in Burlington County, Medford Mayor Chris Myers, announced his candidacy alongside Rep. Jim Saxton.

After staying low key for the last month and a half, Christopher Myers officially announced his congressional candidacy today, representing Burlington County in a potential primary against upcoming primary against Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly.

Whoever wins that primary will probably face state Sen. John Adler, the likely Democratic nominee, in November.

U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton was there today to endorse the 42-year-old Lockheed Martin Vice President and newly sworn in Medford Mayor, who in turn pledged to continue Saxton's legacy, emphasizing his fiscal conservatism and strength on environmental and national defense issues. He also stressed decreasing the national dependence on foreign oil.

"I am running for Congress as a ‘Jim Saxton Republican' -- a conservative on taxes and spending, a supporter of the environment and a friend of working men and women," said Myers.

State Sen. John Adler has raised $610,000 for his campaign for Jim Saxton’s seat in Congress and has $580,000 cash on hand, according to a statement released by his campaign.  Adler is seeking to become the first Democrat to win this seat since 1882.  Medford Deputy Mayor Christopher Myers and Ocean County Freeholder John Kelly are seeking the GOP nomination; neither has released fundraising figures through the end of last year.

Frank Lautenberg, who at age 84 will seek a fifth term as a United States Senator from New Jersey. If he wins, he’d become the oldest and longest-serving Senator in state history. But a sudden retirement could turn New Jersey politics upside-down.

Common Sense America Executive Director

John Adler, the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman who is seeking to become the first Democratic Congressman from Jim Saxton’s district since 1994. And watch Frank LoBiondo, if Jeff Van Drew decides he wants to be a Congressman

Kate Whitman

Charlotte DeFilippo, the veteran Union County Democratic Chair, had her records as Executive Director of the Union County Improvement Authority subpoenaed by the state Attorney General’s office.

Matthew Boxer,

Troy Singleton

The Group

Dennis Shulman

Two veteran New Jersey operatives get a chance to manage in the major leagues:

Two of the state’s leading young Hispanic politicians are

New Jersey AFL-CIO President

Medford Deputy Mayor Christopher Myers will formally announce his candidacy for the GOP nomination for Congress in the third district on Thursday in Medford.  Sources say that twelve-term Congressman Jim Saxton will endorse Myers, a Lockheed Martin Vice President.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Adler, who is seeking to become the first Democrat to win a House seat from the third district since 1882, hasn’t lost an election in nearly eighteen years; he ran unsuccessfully for Congress against Jim Saxton in 1990, and then ousted a veteran GOP State Senator a year later. His campaign for the Saxton seat is viewed as one of the most competitive congressional races in the nation this year.

The unexpected retirement of Republican Reps. Jim Saxton and Mike Ferguson has opened up a wide field of potential congressional candidates, many of whom have spent the last month in fundraising overdrive mode and have already gotten donors to cough up some impressive amounts of cash.

Congressional District 7

In the seventh congressional district, Republicans are lining up to challenge Democrat Linda Stender, who raised close to $2 million last year only to lose to Ferguson by one point. This time, unlike last, she has the full support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, whose Chairman, Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, came to the state in November to endorse and raise money for her and her third district counterpart John Adler.

Stender would not say how much she raised in 2007, but a source close to her said that the campaign has approximately $500,000 in the bank.