Mike Ferguson

Eric Munoz first went to the Legislature in 2001 amidst a game of political musical chairs in the old 21st district, which was about equally divided between Essex and Union counties.  The six -term State Senator, Republican Louis Bassano, resigned to take a job at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority.  The district had already been chopped up, with Bassano's home town, Union, being placed in the heavily-Democratic 20th district, where Raymond Lesniak was the Senator.

Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole won a special election for Bassano's State Senate seat, knowing that he would return to the Assembly eight months later.  His hometown, Cedar Grove, had already been redistricted into District 40, which was represented in the Senate by Henry "Tapioca" McNamara. 

Munoz defeated former Cranford Mayor Thomas Denny in a special election convention to fill O'Toole's Assembly seat.  At this point, four incumbent Assemblymen lived in the new 21st district: Richard Bagger, Thomas Kean, Jr. (who had won a special election convention earlier that year after Alan Augustine died in office), and Joel Weingarten, an Essex County Republican who had beaten Kean and Michael Ferguson to win the Union County GOP Convention in his 2000 campaign for Congress.  Bagger was unopposed for the GOP State Senate nomination; the incumbent, Senate President and Acting Governor Donald DiFrancesco, was not running for the Legislature.

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State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos will serve as Chairman of Christopher Christie's campaign for the Republican nomination for Governor, and four of the five Republicans in the state congressional delegation will serve as Co-Chairmen.

U.S. Reps. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton), Frank LoBiondo (R-Vineland), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding) and Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) are also part of Christie's statewide leadership team.

"I am honored to stand with Chris Christie in his noble fight to bring genuine reform to New Jersey," said Kyrillos, who served as GOP State Chairman from 2001 to 2004.   "There is no doubt that Chris Christie will unify not only our party, but all New Jerseyans.  This team speaks to his regional and ideological appeal all across the state." 

Smith called Christie "a man of honor, integrity, and backbone."

"He has the skills and ability to lead our state during this time of turmoil and economic struggle," said Smith, a Congressman since 1981.

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When Jim Saxton and Mike Ferguson leave Congress tomorrow, New Jersey will have nineteen living former Congressmen.  The oldest is Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen, the 93-year-old father of U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.  He first won an open seat in 1952 and served until his retirement in 1974.  The youngest is the soon-to-be-unemployed Michael Pappas, 48, a Republican who won an open seat in 1996 and lost his bid for re-election to a second term two years later.  Pappas works for the Small Business Administration and will likely lose his job when the new administration takes office this month.

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From our first year, the Best & Worst Campaigns of 2000:

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Of the two New Jersey congressional districts where Republican incumbents did not seek re-election this year, the third district in parts of Ocean, Burlington and Camden counties is arguably more Republican than the seventh district, which includes parts of Hunterdon, Somerset, Union and Middlesex counties.  In District 3, Jim Saxton won 58% of the vote in 2006 and 63% in 2004; George W. Bush won with 51% in 2004.  In the 7th, Mike Ferguson nearly lost his 2006 re-election bid to Democrat Linda Stender, 49%-48%, after winning 57% in 2004; Bush won 53% four years ago.  Republicans have held the Saxton seat since 1884 and the Ferguson seat since 1956.

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CRANFORD -- State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) said turnout is high today, but that it won’t necessarily benefit his opponent in the 7th District Congressional race.

“I’ve been endorsed by every editorial board based upon my independence and views on the issues, and I believe that the public will vote based upon the issues,” said Lance, who’s running against Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood).

At his own polling place in solidly Republican Hunterdon County, Lance and his wife were voters numbers 305 and 306 as of 10:30 a.m., which Lance called a “very healthy” turnout.

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A Union County Democratic party official suggests that if Linda Stender loses her race for Congress next week, she won't get a fifth term in the State Assembly when her seat comes up next year.  As Democrats see it, Stender has had two shots to move up (she lost a race to Mike Ferguson by one percentage point in 2006), and they believe she should win this year.  There is a long line of Union County Democrats who are interested in succeeding Stender in the Legislature, and party leaders feel their opportunity to run for the Assembly ought not be eliminated because Stender didn't run a strong enough House race.  If she loses, look for Stender to wind up with an appointed position, either in the state or in Union County. 

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If Linda Stender loses her race for Congress next week, New Jersey Democrats are prepared to blame Emily's List and other Washington-based organizations for her defeat, according to sources within the Stender campaign.  The seventh district House seat has been viewed as a likely pickup for Democrats, but internal polling from both campaigns is showing that Republican Leonard Lance can win the seat that Stender nearly took away from retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson two years ago.  Suddenly worried about blowing an opportunity to take a seat the GOP has held since 1956, Democrats are bringing in big guns, like former President Bill Clinton, to help Stender win.

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 FLEMINGTON – The Stender supporters started lining up on the sidewalk in front of the old Hunterdon County Courthouse moments before state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) arrived with a contingent of women for Lance, including state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), and his wife.

Some bitter back and forth ensued between the Stender and Lance women on the state senator’s home turf of this 7th Congressional District, where Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) and Lance are in a toss-up battle to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-New Providence).

For a few minutes it looked as though the women here thought they could settle things on their own, in Flemington’s version of “Street Fight.”

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Democrats will pick up congressional seats of retiring Reps. Jim Saxton and Mike Ferguson as part of a national trend that will net them seven U.S. Senate seats and sixteen House seats national, according to James Pindell, the editor of Politicker.com's Pindell Report, which provides independent analysis of federal and state races.

Pindell says that Democrat Frank Lautenberg will win re-election to the U.S. Senate and that Barack Obama will carry New Jersey and win its fifteen electoral votes.

"In two Republican-leaning districts, Democrats John Adler and Linda Stender are going to Congress," said Pindell. "Democrats have momentum and they're winning just about all of the marginal races."

The Pindell Report has the Senate at 58-41, and the House at 252-180.  The Senate races in Alaska, and House races in Florida, New Mexico and Kansas, remain toss-ups.

"The economy, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush combine to push Senate and House races that were toss-ups last week into the Democratic column," said Pindell.   "While the Democrats will control the White House and both houses of Congress, they won't get the 60 Senate seats they need for a filibuster-proof majority." Read More >