Chris Smith gets first Democratic challenger in deep-red NJ-4

Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) represents by far the most Republican congressional district in New Jersey, but that’s not stopping one Democrat from taking him on next year.

Julie Flynn, an assistant teaching professor in Rutgers University’s writing program, will run for New Jersey’s 4th congressional district, which covers conservative territory along the Jersey Shore in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. The district, in different incarnations, has been represented by Smith for nearly Flynn’s entire lifetime; Smith was first elected in 1980, and has won re-election 22 times since then.

For Flynn, that’s one of the many reasons voters should opt for her instead next year.

“[Smith] never has town halls,” Flynn said. “He’s not really representing the people of New Jersey. He’s not one of us. He’s abandoned the state, and all he does is follow along the party line and vote for whatever they want.”

Flynn, who lives in Wall Township, said that she thought about running for office several times before, perhaps for local or county office in Monmouth County. She’s done some political organizing already as a leader in her union, the New Brunswick chapter of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, including a push just this year to prevent state funding cuts to Rutgers.

What got her to jump into a national campaign, though, was the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, a wide-ranging law supported by Smith and signed into law by President Donald Trump this summer. Flynn said that the bill will have disastrous impacts for Medicaid and other government programs in New Jersey – and for the people who rely on them.

“I got so angry – I was like, ‘why am I waiting?’” Flynn said. “With everything that Republicans in Congress and the administration are doing to make more things more unaffordable for the people of this state, for the people of this country – they’re taking money away from the lower income people, from the middle class people, and they’re giving it to billionaires.”

For now, Flynn has a clear path through the 4th district’s Democratic primary, with no other candidates declared for the seat.

But if Flynn makes it to next November’s general election, she faces daunting odds of even making a race against Smith competitive. The 4th district was drawn specifically to include as many Republican-leaning towns as possible in order to make surrounding seats bluer, and Smith’s long tenure has given him crossover appeal beyond even that; last year, Smith won re-election over Democratic challenger Matt Jenkins 67%-32%.

If Smith does face a serious challenge next year, it’s more likely to come from the right rather than the left. Trump loyalists in New Jersey have often mused about the possibility of defeating the relatively middle-of-the-road Smith in a GOP primary, though no serious Republicans challenged Smith last year and none have yet stepped up to take him on next year, either.

But Flynn said that, no matter the partisanship of the district, she’s had practice winning over conservatives like her own dad, and that she’s got a compelling message in her corner: people want change in Washington.

“It’s time for a change,” Flynn said. “People like Chris Smith – when we say ‘drain the swamp,’ he’s the swamp!”