Noticias

In another sign of Democratic enthusiasm ahead of next year’s midterm elections, a fourth Democrat has entered the race against Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) in South Jersey’s conservative-leaning 2nd congressional district.

Bill Finn, a special education math teacher from Gloucester County, has never run for public office before and is, by his own admission, a “newbie.” Given how tired many voters are of the political status quo, though, he said it might not be so bad for Congress to gain a voice like his.

“I’m just a regular guy,” Finn said. “And maybe Congress needs a few more regular people.”

Born and raised in South Jersey, Finn has been a teacher for decades and now teaches at a high school in Philadelphia, where he’s a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. He lives in Mantua, a Gloucester County suburb that’s just outside of the district he hopes to represent (the town was moved from the 2nd district to the 1st during redistricting in 2021).

As a working dad of two sons who also drives for Lyft to earn extra money, Finn had plenty of ideas for how the 2nd district’s member of Congress could improve life in South Jersey: increasing taxes on the super-rich to pay for social services, supporting offshore wind projects to lower electricity costs, and expanding the size of the U.S. House itself to make Washington more representative.

But what inspired him to run for Congress more than anything else, he said, was the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, President Donald Trump’s enormous legislative package that shifts hundreds of billions of dollars towards tax cuts and away from Medicaid and food stamps. Van Drew was hesitant to support the bill’s Medicaid cuts but ultimately voted for the bill, which Finn (like many Democrats) nicknamed the “Big Ugly Bill.”

“We already have an unequal tax structure to begin with, and we’re going to give more money to people who have basically unlimited funds?” Finn said. “And while we give them more money, then we’re taking it away from other things – taking it away from the poorest individuals possible.”

Three other Democrats had already announced campaigns against Van Drew earlier this summer, two of whom have deeper backgrounds in politics in New Jersey or in Washington D.C.

One contender, criminal justice attorney and former detective Tim Alexander, was the district’s Democratic nominee in 2022 and narrowly lost a Democratic primary for the district in 2024; another, Bayly Winder, worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development and has already brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for his campaign. Rounding out the field is Terri Reese, a first-time candidate from Northfield.

If Finn were to win the Democratic primary, he’d face a tough general election against Van Drew, who first won the 2nd district as a Democrat in 2018 before defecting to the Republican Party a year later. Trump carried the district 55%-43% last year, and Van Drew won re-election by an even larger 58%-41% margin.

Van Drew is thus seen as the substantial favorite for another term next year, with most observers instead focusing on the 7th and 9th districts in North Jersey as next year’s marquee races. But some Democrats are intrigued enough by the possibility of making a play for the district that they commissioned a CD-2 poll this spring, one that found Van Drew potentially vulnerable with the right messaging.

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A tone-deaf Superior Court Judge, John Deitch, has scheduled a hearing for October 3 to first consider a lawsuit filed by a Hillside municipal candidate running in the November 4 general election, even though vote-by-mail ballots are scheduled to go out on September 20.

Sonya McBurrows, seeking an at-large council seat on a ticket with Mayor Dahlia Vertreese, was tossed from the ballot on August 27 after Township Clerk Rayna Harris invalidated 37 petition signatures that left her nine short of the required 250.

Jason Sena, a top election lawyer representing McBurrows, filed an emergent application to the court on September 2, challenging the clerk’s decision and seeking to stop the printing and mailing of ballots until the matter is heard.

Deitch has not responded to a September 4 letter from Sena saying that October 3 is too late and that an application for a preliminary injunction is “inherently emergent and, as such, are statutorily required to be decided on an expedited timeframe.”

“The case would be moot due to the passage of time,” Sena told Deitch.

Right now, McBurrows is off the ballot.  By pushing a court hearing until October 3 – a potentially absurd decision — and without the ability to challenge the clerk’s decision, Deitch has essentially ended McBurrows’ campaign

On September 3, Union County Counsel Bruce Bergen advised Deitch on the record that the county clerk needed to send ballots to the printer by September 11 to meet the statutory deadline.  Deitch ordered the county to hold just one municipality, Roselle, and didn’t address the Hillside lawsuit.

In a lawsuit, Sena said Harris disqualified eleven eligible signatories for McBurrows, one of eight candidates for three at-large seats.  He claims the Harris failed to provide written notice that an objection to her petition had been filed, “depriving her of notice and an opportunity to be heard.”  State law requires such notice to be provided.

Hillside holds non-partisan municipal elections in November.  The filing deadline was August 21, and the deadline to determine a petition challenge was August 30, the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Pete McAleer, a spokesman for the judiciary, did not respond to an email seeking comment on Sunday.  Deitch, who is tenured and does not face mandatory retirement until 2039, was copied on the email; he did not respond.

Deitch is the judge who denied a recount in a June 10 Democratic primary for Roselle Borough Council that was decided by three votes.  A state appellate court panel reversed his decision, and the margin was slimmed to two votes after an August 4 recount; Deitch didn’t hold a hearing on a lawsuit challenging the election until September 3, and still hasn’t ruled.

Last year, a Superior Court Judge, also in Union County, may have inadvertently interfered with a mayoral election in Clark because she couldn’t squeeze Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso’s guilty plea onto her calendar before the November 5 general election – a move that might have affected his re-election bid.

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In the most explosive exchange yet of the New Jersey governor’s race, Republican Jack Ciattarelli today accused Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill of deliberately misleading voters by claiming he supports a sales tax — and his campaign attorney issued a formal cease-and-desist letter demanding she remove what he called “blatantly false statements” from her website.

At the center of the dispute is a TV ad from the Democratic Governors Association-backed super PAC claiming Ciattarelli “proposed a 50% sales tax increase” on essentials like food and clothing and is “pushing a 10% sales tax” on the same items.

Ciattarelli says Sherill has taken his words out of context – and she knows it.

“The full, unedited audio is clear: Congresswoman Sherrill is lying about my comments at a recent candidate forum,” Ciattarelli said. “Anyone who listens to the undoctored audio can hear that I never proposed raising any taxes.”

Now, a Ciattarelli campaign website says: “Mikie Sherrill is a liar.”

In one of his sharpest attacks yet, Ciattarelli invoked Sherrill’s past as a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot:

“Congresswoman Sherrill likes to talk about her service in the Navy,” Ciattarelli said. “I would suggest she brush up on the Navy’s honor code: ‘They tell the truth and ensure that the truth is known. They do not lie.’”

The clash stems from a June Bergen County town hall where an audience member asked Ciattarelli whether eliminating New Jersey’s income tax could be offset by raising the sales tax.

“At no time did he propose a 50% sales tax increase on food and clothes, nor did he push for a 10% sales tax,” said Ciattarelli’s campaign attorney, Mark Sheridan.

In a letter to Raj Parikh, the lawyer for the Sherrill campaign, Sheridan demanded that the Democratic gubernatorial nominee stop publicly mischaracterizing Ciattarelli’s words.

“We will not tolerate the repeated false statements and misrepresentations being put forth by Congresswoman Sherrill,” Sheridan said. “We demand that Congresswoman Sherrill cease and desist from her repeated false statements.

Ciattarelli’s  exact words differ from what the DCC ad infers: “We’re going to look at what other states do, and every option is on the table,” he said.  “So, you have my word. We’re going to look at every option as to how better to fund our state government.”

Sherill’s campaign is standing by the idea that Ciattarelli has opened the door to raising the sales tax.  Spokesman Sean Higgins called the move “a desperate dodge from a desperate candidate.”

“At a time when families are struggling under Trump’s tariffs, Jack is talking about driving up grocery and clothing costs. The truth is that Jack voted to raise taxes in every elected office he has held, including to expand the sales tax,” Higgins said.  “When Jack says ‘all options should be on the table,’ New Jerseyans should look at his record of raising taxes and believe him.”

The escalating fight underscores the stakes in what is shaping up to be a tight race. Ciattarelli is attempting to portray Sherrill as dishonest while defending his fiscal record. Sherrill, boosted by the DGA’s ad blitz – the group has reserved $20 million of TV time this fall to help hold the governorship — is working to brand Ciattarelli as a threat to working families. With both campaigns escalating the rhetoric, two weeks before the first gubernatorial debate, the battle lines for November are sharper than ever.

While the DGA-affiliated super PAC carefully phrases its allegation – “he’s talking about a 10% sales tax” – the Sherrill campaign and the Democratic State Committee are going a bit further, suggesting that “all options should be on the table” is congruous to a proposal.”

“If Congresswoman Sherrill wants to misrepresent her own policies or make up gubernatorial powers for how she would address the issues her party created, she is free to do so, and hopefully voters will educate themselves,” said Sheridan.  “What the Congresswoman cannot do is publish lies about Jack Ciattarelli and his proposed policies without repercussion.”

The research on Ciattarelli came from a section of Sherrill’s website, labeled “Jack Facts.”

Republicans have accused Ciattarelli of raising taxes in the past.  In the recent GOP primary, rival Bill Spadea said he “raised taxes for 35 years,” and in the 2017 gubernatorial race, a TV ad from Republican Kim Guadagno said, “Meet Jack. High tax Jack Ciattarelli. He supports jacking up your taxes.”

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