Martin Marks

MOUNTAINVIEW - The 7th Congressional District debate has begun. 

Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks fields a question from moderator Fred Rossi about why he has placed so much emphasis on social issues in his campaign.

"I'm not sure I've put an emphasis on social issues," says Marks. "Anyone of us will defeat an out-of-tocuh with the district Linda Stender, but our present congressman is a pro-life conservative."

He calls last year's near loss for U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-7) an anamoly.

"He has won quite handsomely (in the past)," says Marks. "There is no reason why we shouldn't be promoting a conservative candidate. All too often we like to go with the comfortable shoe."

Democrat Linda Stender continues to outpace the field of seven Republicans in the seventh congressional district.
Stender raised $135,000 between April 1st and May 14th, and has approximately $900,000 on hand. 

The next best fundraiser in the district is Kate Whitman, who wasn’t too far behind Stender during the same period.  She raised $102,000, bringing her total raised to $547,989.  As of May 14th, Whitman had $205,384.81 on hand. 

State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) in Flemington.

FLEMINGTON - Ask a Bush-era Republican to name an American statesman he admires and more times than not he will invoke Ronald Reagan. But State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) invariably gives a different answer to the question.

"I have self-identified with Dwight Eisenhower as an ideal to which I will strive," says the 7th Congressional District candidate. "Dwight Eisenhower brought people together. He was a uniter not a divider, who strongly believed in balancing the federal budget and not robbing our children and our grandchildren of their future."

The Eisenhower model has particular relevance now, according to Lance, who calls fiscal responsibility the transcendent home-front issue as America stares at a $10 trillion debt. The state senator further praises Eisenhower for extracting American forces from Korea when he did, and for not involving the country in other foreign wars, unlike his successors.

Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks 

SCOTCH PLAINS - There sits Mayor Martin Marks at his desk in Town Hall and he doesn’t look as ruffled as he might.

It’s not that he isn’t in a fight, or unwilling to start a scrap in the lulls that are fewer and fewer now with 14 days to go in this 7th Congressional District Republican Primary. Indeed, the self-described "across the board conservative Republican" seizes every opportunity to bash the record of presumptive frontrunner state Sen. Leonard Lance.

"Nice guy, a gentleman," admits Marks. "But people like Leonard Lance play fast and loose with the term conservative. A moderate? All right. But not conservative. He’s pro choice. And he’s going around bragging that he’s gotten the endorsement of the Sierra Club. That’s not conservative."

Kate Whitman 

BRANCHBURG - Next door to the pizza parlor where Kate Whitman pauses before working the backroom of local Republicans two weeks before Election Day stands a Cryan’s Ale House.

Someone throws the name of the tavern owned by the family of State Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Cryan in her direction, and the 31-year old daughter of former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman smiles with recognition.

"I grew up just up the street, and I went to Cryan’s all the time," says the 7th Congressional District candidate.

But if she pleasantly surprised some of her opponents who thought she would come into the race with riding crop and foxhounds, she also encountered a party that gave her and her family a jolt bordering on disrespect, as she failed to secure party backing based on her mother’s clout and lost three of the district’s four organizational lines in the pre-primary.

Tom Roughneen 

In his dogged fight to stay relevant and competitive against the reality of state Sen. Leonard Lance’s big organizational advantages heading into their 7th Congressional District primary, Thomas Roughneen tonight talked strategy with his allies in a conference call.

The former Essex County prosecutor and Iraq War veteran faces a Thursday night debate with the other competitors in this Republican Primary fight, including businesswoman Kate Whitman, former Summit Council Vice-President Kelly Hatfield, Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks, Seton Hall business professor A.D. Amar, Murray Sabrin-running mate Darren Young, and Lance.

The debate will be the last of the cycle with two weeks to go before Election Day.

Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, today announces that he is participating in the GOP Candidate’s Debate sponsored by The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times on Thursday, May 22nd from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at the Mountainside Borough Hall.

 Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, again slams Washington for failing to address one of the most important concerns facing American veterans – adequate funding for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) health care system and related benefits programs.

Mayor Martin Marks, Republican candidate for Congress in the Seventh District, has won the endorsement of New Jersey’s largest and oldest pro-life political action committee - New Jersey Right to Life PAC

State Sen. Leonard Lance is the front-runner in his bid for the GOP nomination for Congress in the 7th district
Leonard Lance doesn’t like to use the F-word, but some pundits say it applies to him in his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district.

“I never use the word ‘frontrunner’,” said Lance, a veteran State Senator from Hunterdon County. “I think it’s a dangerous word, and I campaign as vigorously as I can.”

While Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Gov.Christine Todd Whitman, has raised the most money in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Mike Ferguson, Lance appears to have raised enough to assuage doubts about his fundraising prowess. And he has secured the organization lines in two counties where 67% of Republican primary voters live.

As of the end of last month, Lance had raised $294,130 – which includes a $100,000 personal loan -- and has $255,654 on hand for the primary. Whitman has taken in $444,433 and has $307,260 on hand, although about $50,000 of that is from maxed out donations and must be set aside for the general election.