Hurley Line: The Latest Regarding the Race for House of Representatives – District 2

Hurley Line: The Latest Regarding the Race
for House of Representatives – District 2

By HARRY HURLEY
Political Columnist

In just the past few weeks, two more Republican candidates have entered the race for the United States House of Representatives in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. The filing deadline is April 2, 2018, and the primary  election will be held on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.

This seat, held for nearly a quarter-of-a-century by United States Congressman Frank LoBiondo, R-2 is now considered a battleground race. Democrats need to capture 24 seats to win back the majority.

Many millions of dollars will be directed into this pivotal race that some believe could be the deciding contest for control of The House of Representatives. The well respected “The Cook Political Report” currently rates this race as “Lean Democratic.”

This is largely because New Jersey State Senator Jeff Van Drew is considered to be the candidate from central casting. He’s Democratic-enough, but, has crucial crossover appeal with independent voters and even some Republicans.

It’s been an unflappable winning combination for Van drew for the past 25-plus years at the local, county, state and now federal levels.  

Mark McGovern is the latest Republican candidate to enter the race. I know very little about him. We’ll be interviewing him in the very near future and I’ll report back to you with my findings. His campaign has promised to be high energy and media attention grabbing in nature.

Hirsh Singh is an engineer by profession. He has impressed in the aerospace, satellite navigation and defense industries. He has directed the front-line work at Hi-TecSystems Inc., where he manages eight different locations. He manages and negotiates contracts regarding safety and security issues and programs for the National Missile Defense program.

He has worked on solutions to provide our soldiers (in-the-field) with communication capabilities to the informant in a village, to the drone in the skies, to the Commander in the Pentagon. That’s heavy-duty stuff. He has an impressive resume.

Singh has run statewide in the recent past for Governor. He’s a proven fundraiser, which is the single most important requirement to run in the “political big leagues.” He raised seven figures in his run last year for Governor.

The Republican field is getting very crowded. John Zarych, Esquire is very serious about formally entering the race. He’s intelligent, savvy and highly regarded. He possesses a great deal of experience in election campaigns at all levels.

Brian Fitzherbert is aggressively pursuing the Republican nomination. He’s not running to make an impressive showing and demonstrate that he has a future in Southern New Jersey electoral politics. He believes that his time is now.

Former Supervisory Special FBI agent Robert Turkavage is also in it, to win it. He possesses credible federal level experience. He’s a serious contender.

Somers Point City Councilman James Toto is humble and serious about this race.

There is still no confirmation whether local Attorney Seth Grossman will enter the race. Grossman is a former Atlantic City Councilman and Atlantic County District 2 Freeholder. He has a complete command of all issues pertinent to the 2nd Congressional District.

Former New Jersey Assemblyman Sam Fiocchi has expressed interest in running. His current status as a potential candidate remains unknown at this time.

I expect Van Drew to clear the Democratic field with ease. He has firmly locked up the formal endorsements of all District 2 County Democratic Chairman.

Many have asked me about the composition of District 2. It is expansive. In fact, it covers 40 percent of the geography of the state of New Jersey. It is one of the largest districts in the United States House of Representatives.

New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional breakdown is as follows:

ATLANTIC COUNTY (all 23 municipalities); BURLINGTON COUNTY (Bass River Township and Washington Township); CAMDEN COUNTY (Waterford Township); CAPE MAY COUNTY (all 16 municipalities); CUMBERLAND COUNTY (all 14 municipalities); GLOUCESTER COUNTY (Clayton, East Greenwich Township, Elk Township, Franklin Township, Harrison Township, Mantua Township, Newfield, Pittman, South Harrison Township, Swedesboro and Woolwich Township); OCEAN COUNTY (Barnegat Light, Beach Haven, Eagleswood, Harvey Cedars, Little Egg Harbor Township, Long Beach Township, Ship Bottom, Stafford Township (part), Surf City and Tuckerton; SALEM COUNTY (all 15 municipalities).

That’s a total of 91 municipalities served by one member of the United States Congress. It’s a daunting task. Anyone seeking this seat must understand that you basically put your personal life on hold; because you’ve chosen to pursue public service.

I think it’s incredible that Bill Hughes, Sr. and Frank LoBiondo have held this seat for almost 50 years. I don’t think we’re going to see anything like this anytime soon.

The Democratic Primary is looking like a snore. That’s a big advantage for Van Drew. He won’t have to spend an inordinate amount of money to win the nomination. The Republican Primary is a much more fluid and competitive situation.

At this time, I would give Singh and Zarych the upper tier status, with Fitzherbert and Turkavage in the mix.

As always, we’ll be providing you with the most up-to-date and relevant information regarding this and all of the other election contests here at www.ShoreLocalNews.com and “Hurley in the Morning” at www.WPGTalkRadio.com and on-air at 104.1 FM, 1450 AM and 97.3 FM HD2.

Harry Hurley is the president of Harry Hurley Consulting and Communications, LLC. He hosts the daily talk radio program “Hurley in the Morning” 6-10 a.m., weekdays on Townsquare Media, WPG Talk Radio 104.1 FM & 1450 AM, where he also serves as the senior programming consultant. Harry was elected to both the Philadelphia (2014) and New Jersey (2015) Radio Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He has hosted various programs for local television and is the editor and publisher of his news and information website, www.harryhurley.com. Send comments to HarryHurley@aol.com