Morris County’s top Democrat has doubled down on his support of Mikie Sherrill for Congress in New Jersey’s 11th district following today’s announcement that Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen will not seek re-election.
Chip Robinson, the Democratic county chairman, praised Frelinghuysen’s service, but said that the twelve-term congressman started out as a moderate, but shifted right over the years to rise through the ranks of the Republican Congress. Frelinghuysen is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Over the past few years, Congressman Frelinghuysen seems to have given up representing his constituents and chosen instead to represent the far-right Republican Party, led by Speaker Paul Ryan and President Trump,” said Robinson. The brand of Republican politics championed by President Trump and many other leaders in the Republican party has worked to drive out moderates like Congressman Frelinghuysen, and to weaken their own party.”
Robinson has praised Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and assistant U.S. Attorney.
“Mikie Sherrill is proving that she is exactly what our district needs,” Robinson said in a statement released today. “Since she entered the race in early 2017, she visited constituents all over the district, while Congressman Frelinghuysen hid from them. She will be a moderate voice for a moderate district, but also hold Donald Trump and the far right accountable for their actions.”