Michael Hsing

Michael Hsing

BRIDGEWATER – It was hard not to see the result here as party payback.

In a special local GOP committee election tonight at the senior center, two-term Bridgewater Councilman Michael Hsing lost party support for his seat in a four-way contest for three seats.

The contestants signed an agreement beforehand agreeing to refrain from challenging tonight's GOP winners in municipal elections. The committee gave incumbent Councilman Howard Norgalis 48 votes, local activist Dan Hayes 47 votes, and former Councilman Alan Kurdyla 47 votes.

In a losing effort, Hsing received 20 votes.

The councilman ran for Congress last year in the 7th District as an independent Republican after failing to secure the party line in his home county here.

"I ended up getting 9% of the vote in Somerset County and 6% overall," said Hsing, of his quixotic, independent challenge of U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) in a general election contest ultimately won by Lance. 

In an attempt to move conservative Republican voters away from Leonard Lance, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a piece of direct mail  -- to hard Republican voters -- criticizing independent Michael Hsing, a GOP Councilman from Bridgewater, from being too conservative for the district.  The attack on Hsing suggests that he is pro-life, pro-gun, pro-tax cut, and anti-gay marriage, and notes that he was a George W. Bush delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention. 

State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington), who’s running against Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) in the 7th Congressional District, has $258,032 on hand to Stender’s $602,275.

That’s a significant improvement over last quarter, which Lance, bruised from a primary fight, had only $80,000 on hand. He raised $522,941 between July 1st and September 30th, while Stender raised $622,285.

State Sen. Leonard Lance leads Assemblywoman Linda Stender by four points in the 7th District Congressional District, according to a Monmouth University poll released today.

Lance leads Stender 41% to 37% among registered voters, and 43% to 39% among likely voters. Both numbers are within the poll’s margin of error, however, and 14% of the district’s voters are undecided.

Former Republican Michael Hsing, who’s running as an independent, attracts about 2% of the vote. That’s far worse than he did in an internal Stender campaign poll, where he attracted 9% of voters.

Congressional candidate Michael HsingBridgewater Councilman Michael Hsing, a Republican-turned-independent to run for Congress in the 7th District, doesn’t see his role in the race as a spoiler for Republican Leonard Lance. Rather, he sees himself as a pinch hitter coming in to relieve Lance, who he doesn’t think can win.

“If I compare Stender and Lance, certainly I will support Lance. But I know Lance probably will not win. If I believed Lance would win, I would not challenge him,” said Hsing. “He doesn’t have fire in the belly, and I have at it.”

Michael Hsing, a Republican Councilman from Bridgewater, is running for Congress as an Independent in the 7th district
If Assemblywoman Linda Stender’s congressional campaign poll numbers are to be believed, then State Sen. Leonard Lance should be worried about Michael Hsing.

Hsing, a councilman from Bridgewater, pulled out of the Republican congressional primary to run as an independent after complaining that Somerset County’s GOP endorsement process was “rigged.”

Now the Stender poll shows her in a close race with Lance, leading him by just three points – 36-33%. That poll has the independent Hsing at 9% -- most of which would presumably belong to Lance otherwise.

Somerset County Republican Chairman Dale Florio, however, doesn’t believe that the poll is accurate.

“I don’t put any credibility into that number. That’s just not a real number,” he said.

Linda Stender leads Leonard Lance by three percentage points, 36%-33%, in the race for Congress from New Jersey’s seventh district, according to an Anzalone/Liszt Research poll conducted for the Stender campaign.

Bridgewater Councilman Michael Hsing, a Republican running as an Independent, is polling 9%.  Tom Abrams, a retired marketing executive running as an anti-war candidate, is receiving 2% of the vote.

The poll shows presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama in a statistical dead heat in the district: McCain 45%, Obama 43%.  President Bush has an upside-down favorable rating of 30%-64%.

In the race for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, the Republican candidate trails an independent in cash on hand.   State Sen. Leonard Lance has just $80,792 in his war chest, as of his most recent Federal Election Commission filing, and Michael Hsing, a Republican Councilman from Bridgewater who briefly challenged Lance for the GOP nomination and is now running as an independent, has $91,637.  Democrat Linda Stender, a State Assemblywoman, has $1.2 million in the bank.