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Republicans eye gains in N.J.'s Third District

While the Democrats seeking reelection in New Jersey's Third Legislative District hold significant advantages in fund-raising and name recognition, the Senate's Republican leader has targeted the race as part of a broader effort to snatch control for the GOP.

Stephen Sweeney
Stephen SweeneyRead more

While the Democrats seeking reelection in New Jersey's Third Legislative District hold significant advantages in fund-raising and name recognition, the Senate's Republican leader has targeted the race as part of a broader effort to snatch control for the GOP.

The race includes Democrats Stephen Sweeney, the state Senate president; Assemblyman John Burzichelli; and Assemblywoman Celeste Riley. On the Republican side, Niki Trunk, 39, a lawyer, is running for the Senate, and Gloucester County Freeholder Larry Wallace, 51, owner of a dental-practice management company, and Salem County Freeholder Bob Vanderslice, 60, a banker, are seeking Assembly seats.

Senate Republican Majority Leader Thomas H. Kean Jr. has poured significant resources into the Senate race, though the district has not elected a Republican in a decade.

Republican Gov. Christie, at the top of the ballot, is expected to easily carry the district, which encompasses 33 towns in Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties. The strong showing in the district by tea party-backed Steve Lonegan in the Oct. 16 special U.S. Senate election suggests voters may be inclined to vote for Republican candidates on Tuesday as well.

"This is why I've been calling this the most important district to watch," said Patrick Murray, a political analyst at Monmouth University. Kean "set a target on Steve's back. While they may not have fielded the best candidates on the Republican side, it still is a district where Christie is extremely popular. They're hoping his coattails will be just enough."

The Democrats say they have set South Jersey on the right course. They tick off accomplishments such as making the region more desirable for businesses by securing tax breaks in the recently passed Economic Opportunity Act and boosting Rowan University's profile through a higher education restructuring law.

"People aren't necessarily happy; things aren't perfect. But they know in the three of us, they have a tried and true commodity: responsive, aggressive advocates for their district," said Burzichelli, 58, a small-business owner. Riley, 53, is a teacher.

The Republicans say their opponents have failed to rein in property taxes and made the cost of living too high in New Jersey.

"If we lose this race, it is our own fault," Trunk said at a dinner for Gloucester County Republicans in September, noting that Sweeney's last opponent, Mike Mulligan, lost by just 5,100 votes in 2011.

Christie frequently appears with Sweeney at ribbon-cuttings and groundbreakings, burnishing his bipartisan appeal. "The governor mentions me by name during debates," said Sweeney, 54, general organizer for the International Association of Ironworkers. "Things couldn't get done without us working together."

Trunk has painted a different picture of Sweeney, accusing him in television ads of "pushing people around" and declaring that "it's about time that we push back."

She says that kind of behavior was evident last week when Sweeney, Burzichelli, and Riley sought to freeze about $70,000 in contributions to Trunk's campaign and her joint committee with Wallace and Vanderslice.

In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court, Sweeney alleged that Trunk accepted the money illegally from the failed 2012 U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Joe Kyrillos, a state senator.

Under state law, such donations are capped at $2,600. When Trunk filed an amended form Oct. 17, the suit alleges, Kyrillos' contribution no longer appeared. But the form showed a new contribution of the same amount from Senate Republican Majority, the leadership PAC controlled by Kean.

There are no limits on how much money such groups can contribute to candidate committees.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge Anne McDonnell referred the case to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). Trunk attributed the error to a typo by her volunteer treasurer and accused Sweeney of trying to "bully me into backing down."

Sweeney brushed off the criticism. "I'm a fighter," he said. "I fight for the people I represent. No one is going to give South Jersey anything. You fight for it."

Republicans hope Lonegan's relative success in Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties in the U.S. Senate election could portend legislative gains in Trenton.

Though Democrat Cory Booker won the election by 11 percentage points, Lonegan picked up Salem by 1,700 votes, finished neck-and-neck in Gloucester, and fared well in Cumberland, losing by about 500 votes.

Democrats say those results were skewed by low voter turnout and note that Booker did not campaign in the area.

"I'm not concerned. This was an October election on a Wednesday while one side was motivated. The tea party was extremely motivated," Sweeney said. "And they vote."

He added: "I'm working very hard on my election. . . . You run every election like you're down 30 points."

Sweeney is raising money like he is. He had raised $1.3 million as of Oct. 25, the date of his most recent filing, compared with Trunk's $354,000 - $257,000 of which came from Kean's PAC.

The Democrats' joint committee has raised $1.4 million, while the Republicans' committee has raised $157,000.

Sweeney's allies also have chipped in. The Fund for Jobs, Growth and Security, an independent-expenditure group run by strategists in Washington, has spent $171,700 on direct mail and ads opposing Trunk, according to ELEC filings.

George E. Norcross III, a South Jersey political power broker and part-owner of The Inquirer, has helped raise money for the fund. He declined to comment.

About $3.1 million has been spent in the Third District, not including expenditures by independent groups, ELEC said in a report Thursday.

"Steve Sweeney and his D.C. allies have made the Third District the most expensive race in the state," Kean said Thursday. "That clearly shows that Steve Sweeney is worried about keeping his seat."

Democrats currently control the Senate, 24-16, and Sweeney said he welcomed Kean's challenge.

"At the end of the day, Tom is going to have to explain to his colleagues, with Christie on top of the ballot, that he didn't pick up any seats," Sweeney said. "Every dollar Tom spends on me is a dollar he can't spend somewhere else, so I'm fine with that."