Democratic socialist will run against Chris Smith in NJ-4

The Democratic primary to run against Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) in New Jersey’s most inhospitably conservative district is gaining another contender.

Peter Linardakis, a 25-year-old Rutgers Law School student from Brick, has become the latest Democrat to announce a run for the 4th congressional district, which covers parts of Monmouth and Ocean Counties and which has been represented by Smith since 1981. And unlike many of the more moderate Democrats who have run for the seat in the past, Linardakis is democratic socialist, and argues that an unabashedly progressive and working-class campaign is what it will take to win.

“I still see Democrats running scared from voters,” Linardakis told the New Jersey Globe. “They don’t want to stand on their values and make the case to voters directly… I believe that voters can sense that inauthenticity and will firmly reject it.”

Four other Democrats are already running for the seat: small businesswoman Rachel Peace, professor Julie Flynn, union electrician John Blake, and local activist Bob English. At their convention earlier this month, Monmouth County Democrats awarded Peace their official endorsement, with Flynn and Blake not too far behind.

Linardakis didn’t participate in that convention, which he said was because he was still in the process of setting up his campaign when the filing deadline passed; he plans on competing at the Ocean Democratic convention on March 15.

But Linardakis was critical of many of his party’s top Democrats, among them Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries, whom he said “have been more than happy to sell out working people in order to maintain their power.” His own platform, he said, will be fighting President Donald Trump’s administration, removing “corrupt and corporate influence” from the Democratic Party, and building mutual aid networks.

“My values are not something that I just adopted for the sake of it,” Linardakis said. “These are my genuine beliefs. I believe these are the policies necessary to make this country better, to get it back on the right track.”

Partisan math, though, means that even an enormous Democratic wave likely wouldn’t be enough to topple Smith, the longest-serving congressman in New Jersey history. Trump carried the 4th district by 30 percentage points in 2024, and Gov. Mikie Sherrill only barely improved on that result in 2025 despite winning in a statewide landslide.