The number of obstacles to a 23rd House term for Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) diminished by one today, with the longtime congressman easily beating back Republican primary opponent David Schmidt, the New Jersey Globe projects.
As of 9:47 p.m., Smith had 85% of the vote to Schmidt’s 15%.
Two years ago, after redistricting substantially reshaped his 4th congressional district and after former President Donald Trump called for his ouster, Smith faced a serious primary challenge from podcaster Mike Crispi; Smith ultimately won that contest 58%-37%.
But with Trump and Smith now on better terms, and with Smith now settled into his new congressional district, no similarly formidable opponent stepped up to run against the congressman this year. That left only Schmidt, who ran for the same district as an independent in 2022 and got 0.5% of the vote; Schmidt never even filed a single campaign finance report for his primary campaign.
Smith is now set to take on Democrat Matt Jenkins, who won his own primary uncontested, in the November general election. Jenkins previously ran against Smith in 2022 and lost 67%-31%, an expected result in an Ocean and Monmouth County district that was purposefully drawn to be as Republican as possible.
In January 2021, Smith passed Rep. Peter Rodino (D-Newark)’s record to become the longest-serving congressman in New Jersey history, and he didn’t stop there. The 71-year-old Smith, first elected in 1980, now has more than 43 years in the House under his belt – but he’s still not the Dean of the House thanks to 86-year-old Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky), who was elected in the same year as Smith but who gets the title of Dean because his name comes first alphabetically.