Millicent Fenwick

New Jersey's three women Sheriffs: Kim Guadagno (R-Monmouth), Deborah Trout (R-Hunterdon) and Jean Stanfield (R-Burlington)

As a candidate for newly-created post of Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno becomes the fifth woman nominated by a major party to run statewide in New Jersey.  The first was Thelma Parkinson, who ran for a two-month unexpired term in the United States Senate in 1930, followed by Millicent Fenwick (U.S. Senate, 1982), Mary Mochary (U.S. Senate, 1984), and Christine Todd Whitman (U.S. Senate, 1990; Governor, 1993 and 1997).  Parkinson was a Democrat; Fenwick, Mochary and Whitman were nominated by the Republicans.

Guadagno is one of three women Sheriffs in New Jersey, and only the fifth woman to win election as Sheriff in a state that has elected Sheriffs since the 18th century.

She also becomes the first county official to run for statewide office in a general election since Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro ran for Governor in 1985.

Beck in Bernards.

BERNARDS – The Somerset County Federation of Republican Women (SCFRW) on Thursday night at the Bernards Inn honored state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Red Bank) with their 17th Annual Millicent Fenwick Award for Outstanding Public Service.

A packed banquet hall included “sister Senator” Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.), Assemblyman Pete Biondi (R-Hillsborough), past award recipients Assemblywoman Denise Coyle (R-Bernards) and Somerset County Freeholder Pat Walsh, Somerset County GOP Chairman Dale Florio (who worked as a congressional aide for Fenwick), Somerset County Freeholder Jack M. Ciattarelli, Union County GOP Finance Chair Kelly Hatfield, and many others.

State Sen. Jen Beck (D-Monmouth)

BRANCHBURG - State Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) will receive this year's Millicent Fenwick Award from the Somerset County Federation of Republican Women, the organization's president, Janice Fields, told a breakfast gathering this morning.

Fields said the women's group would bestow the public service award on the Monmouth County senator in honor of the late congresswoman from Bernardsville at a ceremony on March 26, with details forthcoming.

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, who began his fifth term in the U.S. Senate in January 2008, has beaten fifteen Democrats, five Republicans and 20 Independents on his path to becoming the longest serving Senator in New Jersey history.

A new report from the Census Bureau indicates that New Jersey is likely to lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in time for the 2012 elections.  That will offer numerous redistricting options for mapmakers after the 2010 census.  Over the coming weeks, PolitickerNJ.com will offer some of our own maps to demonstrate some potential scenarios as New Jersey moves from thirteen congressional districts to twelve.

With a 22-point lead in his bid for re-election, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning, Frank Lautenberg is likely to break two new records -- he'll become the first five-term United States Senator in New Jersey history, and he'll break his own record as the oldest person to ever win a statewide election in this state.  But there is one more record that Lautenberg could break -- the biggest winning percentage in a U.S. Senate race. That record belongs to Bill Bradley, who won 64.2% against Mary Mochary in 1984.  

Lautenberg could become the fifth Senator in state history to win more than 60% of the vote; if this is the last campaign for the 84-year-old Democrat, it's not a bad way to go out -- especially since Lautenberg has never passed the 54% mark before.  He won 50.9% against Millicent Fenwick in 1982, 53.5% against Peter Dawkins in 1988, 50.3% against Chuck Haytaian in 1994, and 53.9% against Douglas Forrester in 2002.

Frank Lautenberg, who has never amassed huge approval ratings in independent polls and has never won more than 55% of the vote in a general election, appears likely to become the first five-term United States Senator in New Jersey history.  The 84-year-old Democrat  is positioned to break Clifford Case's record of 24 years in statewide office in December.  He has already passed Harrison Williams for number two on that list.

Some analysts say that Lautenberg has been lucky -- the fortunate beneficiary of the Republicans nominating the wrong candidate in each of his elections.  His first campaign was against Millicent Fenwick, an iconic 72-year-old Congresswoman who was the model for Doonsbury's Lacey Davenport character.  But Fenwick refused to raise PAC money and couldn't compete with Lautenberg's vast self-financed warchest.  Old-time GOP'ers say that Jim Courter, then a two-term Congressman, would have been a stronger candidate for the open Senate seat. 

If Linda Stender wins her race against Leonard Lance, she would become just the sixth woman to represent New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives since the ratification of the 19th Ammendment in 1920 -- and just the second to go without beating an incumbent.

Four of New Jersey's five Congresswomen went to Washington after defeating an incumbent: Mary Norton, a Hudson County Freeholder who went to Congress in 1924 when she defeated incumbent John Eagan in the Democratic primary with the backing of Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague; Florence Dwyer, an Assemblywoman from Elizabeth, who ousted two-term Democrat Harrison Williams in 1956; Helen Meyner, the former First Lady of New Jersey, who beat freshman Republican Joseph Maraziti in 1974; and former Ridgewood Board of Education President Marge Roukema, who unsteated three-term Democrat Andrew Maguire in 1980.

Debates were the cornerstone of Rob Andrews' Senate campaign, but he's not running for the Senate now
Those who followed the Democratic U.S. Senate primary heard it again and again: U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews complaining that incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg wouldn’t engage him in enough debates.

He got two – both shortly before election day. 

Now, Republican Senate candidate Dick Zimmer is sounding a similar theme, complaining that Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) won’t live up to the standard he set in 1982, when he wanted to debate Republican rival Millicent Fenwick in all 21 counties.

But don’t expect Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) to back up Zimmer on this one. 

“The Congressman supports Senator Lautenberg and has no further comment on the campaign,” said Andrews Chief of Staff Bill Caruso.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be the sixth woman to appear on a statewide ballot as a major party candidate in New Jersey.  The first was Thelma Sharp, a 32-year-old Democratic State Committeewoman from Vineland who was nominated to run for a two-month unexpired term in the United States Senate in 1930.  Millicent Fenwick, a four-term Congresswoman, ran for the Senate in 1982 (she lost to Frank Lautenberg), and Montclair Mayor Mary Mochary unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Senator Bill Bradley in 1984.  Christine Todd Whitman narrowly lost a bid for U.S. Senate in 1990 (to Bradley), and was elected Governor in 1993 and 1997.  In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro lost New Jersey as the Democratic candidate for Vice President.