Seven Democratic congressional candidates are in Rep. Leonard Lance’s home county this morning in pursuit of the Hunterdon County Democratic organization line at their convention in Frenchtown.
The county chair, Arlene Quinones Perez, has personally endorsed Linda Weber for Congress, and this morning is considered a test of her political strength. Tom Malinowski, a former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State under President Obama, has been working Hunterdon hard – especially after losing a mini-convention in Somerset to Weber.
Malinowski has the backing of Clinton Mayor Janice Kovach, the Democratic State Committee Secretary and a former congressional candidate. Flemington Democratic Municipal Chairman Joey Novick has backing newcomer Goutam Jois. Attorney Scott Salmon, self-funder Lisa Mandelblatt, environmental activist David Pringle and 2016 candidate Peter Jacob are also seeking the nomination.
Buoyed by the election of two Democratic Assemblymen who represent five Hunterdon towns, Democrats are looking to 2018 as their break-out year, with the defeating of the five-term Congressman their number one priority.
Hunterdon has long been one of the few unbreakable Republican bastions in New Jersey. Democrats have not won a county race since Benjamin Kirkland won his third term in 1979. The seats of Republican freeholders Matthew Holt and John King and Surrogate Susan Hoffman are up for re-election. King is not seeking another term.