Victor Sordillo

GOP State Sen. Leonard Lance has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday morning on the steps of the historic Hunterdon County Courthouse, to declare his candidacy for U.S. Congress in the 7th district.

Pete Biondi won't run for CongressSaying that he doesn't want to spend too much time away from his family, Assemblyman Peter Biondi today opted not to run for Congress to succeed Rep. Mike Ferguson in the seventh district.

Biondi would have likely been the local Republican Party’s candidate of choice in Somerset -- one of four counties that make up the congressional district.

“This was a tough decision. What’s best for me and my family is that I be here,” said Biondi, who is the Republican conference leader in the Assembly. “I think I can better serve my constituents in my leadership position in Trenton.”

In an interview with PolitickerNJ.com in Woodbridge on Saturday, Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks promised to prove himself in the 7th district congressional primary as the conservative choice.

The pro-life mayor and executive member of the League of Municipalities, says he has over $100,000 in the bank so far toward his congressional campaign, and looks forward to mulitple GOP forums in the coming weeks to distinguish himself from the rest of a large field of candidates.

Sen. Leonard LanceSen. Leonard Lance from Hunterdon County, the former state Senate Minority Leader, is expected to officially enter the 7th District Congressional race this week.

The GOP field in the 7th district so far includes Union County candidates Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield; and Kate Whitman, daughter of former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, from Somerset County.

It is expected that Assemblyman Pete Biondi will not seek his party’s nomination, which could open up a run by Warren Mayor Victor Sordillo, who has sworn off running if Biondi gets in the race.

Whoever wins Republican support will face likely Democratic Party nominee Assemblywoman Linda Stender.

Republican attorney Tom Roughneen of Watchung, twice awarded the Bronze Star for his Army service in Iraq, is forming an exploratory committee to run for Congress in the 7th district.

"My Irish-immigrant, blue-collar parents raised their 5 children to appreciate the opportunities in America," said Roughneen in a letter to Republicans he sent out earlier this month. "For 10 years I served as a prosecutor and for twenty years I have served in the Army.

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.

Fearful that Sen. Leonard Lance's idea of a good fight consists of slapping another man in the face with a glove and then offering him the first choice of dueling pistols, gutfighter Republicans last week were desperately scanning the horizon for a blue-collar primary alternative.

Into the breach stepped 30-year old Kate Whitman, who on Friday announced her designs on the 7th district Congressional seat. Never having held elected office, the daughter of former Governor and millionaire Christie Todd Whitman can at least boast that this is not her first eyelash bat in the direction of elected office.

With mom proudly looking on last spring, the younger Whitman delivered a precocious prose poem homage to Ronald Reagan as part of her effort to woo a roomful of GOP delegates at the Somerset County Party convention. Whitman's object was a shot at county freeholder, and her 1980s flashback prod came at a time when Republicans found invocations of the Gipper particularly useful in the face of walking train wreck - and onetime presidential heir - George W. Bush.