NJ-08: N.J. Republicans may leave House seat uncontested for first time since 2008
For nearly two decades, neither major party has left a U.S. House or Senate seat in New Jersey uncontested, an impressive streak that’s given voters the chance to vote for their preferred party even in unwinnable races. That streak may break this year.
The filing deadline came and went yesterday with no Republicans submitting petitions in the 8th district, the majority-Hispanic North Jersey district held by Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City). Local Republicans did have a candidate in the race – Jashan Lucas, a social worker from Elizabeth – but thanks to what Hudson GOP Chair Jose Arango deemed a “blunder,” Lucas didn’t collect the requisite 500 signatures to make the ballot.
Republicans do still have another option to make the general election ballot: convincing at least 500 GOP voters to write in Lucas or another candidate in the June primary. That’s how Republicans prevented Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) from winning uncontested in 2020 after a filing snafu; GOP candidate Christian Onuoha won 508 write-in votes, well over the 200 he needed at the time (and just barely over the 500 threshold now required under new ballot access laws).
Arango indicated that’s an option he and his fellow 8th district chairs are considering: “I would love to do that,” he said. “I believe it’s something that can be done.”
https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/n-j-republicans-may-leave-house-seat-uncontested-for-first-time-since-2008/