Kiley set to take on Pallone

Monmouth County Commissioner Sue Kiley is expected to announce her bid for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th district next week, giving House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. his first significant Republican challenger in more than a decade.

Kiley filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday.

A former Hazlet mayor, Kiley was re-elected county commissioner last month with 61% of the vote against former Neptune Mayor Michael Beson, who had served as an aide to Pallone in the 1990s.  She ran two points ahead of Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli in Monmouth County.

Gov. Phil Murphy received 53.4% of the vote in the newly-drawn 6th district, which picked up some Monmouth County municipalities that had been represented by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Hamilton).

Pallone, an 18-yerm incumbent, is one of the most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill.

In her first countywide election in 2018, Kiley defeated Democrat Amber Gesslein, a labor leader, by a 50%-45% margin.  John P. Curley, a Republican incumbent who lost party support and sought re-election as an independent, received 5% of the vote.

Kiley worked as a nurse and then as a healthcare sales and marketing executive before running for local office in Hazlet in 2013 in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Pallone was re-elected in 2020 by a 61%-39% margin against Republican Christian Onuoha.   He won 66% in the Middlesex County portion of the district and 52% in Monmouth,

Onuoha was elected to the Sayreville Borough Council on November 2.