Chris Smith begins 23rd term in Congress

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Manchester) broke his own record as the longest-serving member of Congress in New Jersey history today when he took the oath of office for his 23rd term.

After Smith won his first election in 1980, at age 27, the Almanac of American Politics opined that his election was a fluke.

“There is a general assumption in New Jersey that Smith has few political assets outside Thompson’s Abscam problems and will turn out to be a one-term congressman,” the bible of U.S. politics wrote of the freshman congressman.

He tied the 20-term record of Peter W. Rodino, Jr. (D-Newark) at the close of the 116th Congress on January 3, 2021, and then broke it when the 117th Congress took office that day.

Since seniority for House members sworn in on the same day is alphabetical, Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky), 87, moves to #2.  Rogers and Smith both took office on January 3, 1981.  Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch), 73, elected in 1988, is now the 6th ranking member of the House.

At age 71, Smith is on a trajectory to become Dean of the House.

In the seniority-driven Congress, LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), who won a September special election following the death of Donald Payne, Jr. (D-Newark), is now at 372.  Herb Conaway (D-Delran) enters Congress at 383, while Nellie Pou starts at 422.

The next record for Smith comes on September 8, 2026, when he’ll pass Adolph J. Sabath (D-Illinois to become the 12th longest-serving House member in U.S. history.   He needs to get re-elected seven more times to be positioned to overtake John Dingell (D-Michigan) as #1.

Rodino was elected in 1948, at age 39, on his second try.

The Democratic lawyer from Newark had lost a bid for State Assembly in 1940, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and came within 5,730 votes, 52.5% to 45.7%, of unseating nine-term Rep. Fred Hartley (R-Kearny) in 1946.

Hartley, still nationally prominent still as the sponsor of the Taft-Hartley Act, retired in 1948 and Rodino won the open seat by 5,800 votes, 50.7% to 45.7% against former Assemblyman Anthony Giuliano (R-Newark).

The Smith campaigns

Like Rodino, Smith was also elected to Congress on his second try.

Smith was 25 when he challenged 12-term Rep. Frank Thompson, Jr. (D-Trenton), the chairman of the powerful House Administration Committee, in 1978.  He lost by 24 points.

Undeterred, Smith ran again in 1980.

Circumstances changed.

Thompson was implicated in the FBI sting operation known as Abscam, when an undercover agent pretending to be an Arab sheik offered the congressman a cash bribe to help him circumvent federal immigration laws.

This time, Smith won.  He beat Thompson by 26,967 votes, a 47%-41% margin.

When Smith ran for a second term in 1982, he faced the strongest possible opponent: Joe Merlino, a 60-year-old, cigar-chomping former State Senate President who saw going to Congress as sort of a consolation prize after losing a race for governor one year earlier.

The old 4th district was a middle-class, Democratic-leaning district that included mostly Mercer and Middlesex counties, with small parts in Burlington and Monmouth.  Jimmy Carter had won 54% in the old 4th in 1976, and Smith received just 38% when he ran against 12-term incumbent Frank Thompson in 1978.  In 1980, after Thompson was indicted in the Abscam scandal, Smith won with 57%.

Back in the days when the Legislature drew congressional districts, Merlino had a heavy hand in redrawing the 4th to make it even more Democratic.  The map was drawn during the lame-duck session of the 1981 Legislature, while Merlino was still Senate President.  Democratic Gov. Brendan Byrne signed the map just before Republican Tom Kean succeeded him.

Smith’s hometown, Old Bridge, was dropped, along with other southern Middlesex towns that he had won. Instead, it went down the Delaware River through Burlington and picked up Pennsauken in Camden County.

Comparing apples to apples, the old 4th gave Reagan a 47%-44% win against Carter; Carter had beaten Reagan 47%-45% in the new district.

While Merlino was given the early edge, Smith worked hard — and fought hard.

One memorable Smith TV ad contrasted the Merlino image as an old-fashioned backroom politician.  It had a lit cigar in an ashtray in a room full of smoke, along with voices of people saying they disapproved of “Boss Merlino” distorting Smith’s record.  The ad then cut to an energetic Smith campaigning while other voices explained why they liked their congressman.

Merlino’s most unforgettable TV ad was shot in black-and-white as an imitation of the film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”  The ad shows a youthful vagabond hitchhiking as a voice-over attacks Smith.  That was followed by the actor playing Smith getting kicked down the Capitol steps with the narrator urging voters to kick Smith out of Washington and replace him with Merlino.

Republicans got actor Jimmy Stewart, who played Mr. Smith in the movie, to issue a statement slamming Merlino.

“When I played Mr. Smith in that picture, I did not think he was a naive hick,” Stewart said.  “I thought he believed in honesty and integrity in government, the right of the people, and the love of his country.”

Stewart applauded Smith’s record as a first-term congressman – “I hope you win,” he said – and Merlino pulled the ad that had clearly backfired.

Smith won that 1982 race by 10,002 votes, 53%-47%.  He won Hamilton, where he moved so he could live within the boundaries of the new district, by about the same margin.

Since his first election, Smith has run under seven maps and represented parts of Middlesex, Mercer, Burlington, Camden, Monmouth and Ocean counties in Congress.