Twenty-two independent and minor-party candidates filed to run for U.S. House and Senate in New Jersey by yesterday’s deadline, including a prominent husband-and-wife duo from Tennessee running as anti-abortion candidates in New Jersey’s two most competitive congressional districts.
Randall Terry, the founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and the Constitution Party’s nominee for president two years ago, submitted petitions to run under the slogan “Life Truth Justice” in the 7th district. The district’s contest between Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) and Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett is expected to be one of the most closely watched in the country.
His wife, Terrisa Bukovinac – whom New Jersey voters may remember as the only name besides Joe Biden who appeared on their 2024 Democratic presidential ballots – is running in the 9th district, where Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) faces GOP nominee Rosie Pino. Bukovinac, a self-described “progressive pro-life atheist,” filed with the slogan “Save Our Babies.”
Terry and Bukovinac listed an address in Ellendale, Tennessee in their petition filings, and they have no obvious connections to New Jersey. In order to take office if they win, they’d have to establish residency in the state, though that’s of course a remote possibility.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Cory Booker drew three independent opponents, one of whom he and other Democrats have tussled with before. Veronica Fernandez ran against Booker in 2020 and Rep. Tom Malinowski in 2022, harshly criticizing both in the process; when she tried to run for State Assembly as a Democrat in 2023, Democratic leaders looked at her past statements and decided to drop their support for her campaign.
Also filing to run for Senate was Joanne Kuniansky, perhaps the state’s most committed independent candidate; Kuniansky was previously the Socialist Workers Party’s candidate for governor in 2021 and 2025 and U.S. Senate in 2024.
One other Senate candidate, Natalie Rivera, might have her hopes dashed by the state’s sore-loser laws. Rivera campaigned for the Senate briefly as a Republican this year, competing at at least one county convention; though she never actually filed to make the Republican primary ballot, that short-lived campaign still may be enough to disqualify her independent candidacy.
A candidate in the 12th district, former Middlesex Councilman Matt Adams, similarly tried to file as an independent despite also appearing on yesterday’s Democratic primary ballot (he finished in 11th place with 2% of the vote). That’s a more clear-cut violation of the sore-loser law, and Adams is no longer listed as a candidate.
Finally, no Republicans filed to run in the 8th district, but local GOP leaders are instead supporting teachers union official Aristotle Eliopoulos, a registered Republican who filed as an independent. He’ll be competing with Socialist Workers Party candidate Craig Honts and fellow independent Da’Shone Hughey for any votes not won by Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City).
Here’s the full list of independent candidates who filed to run this year; not all of them may end up appearing on the November ballot depending on petition challenges (candidates needed 250 valid signatures to make the ballot):
U.S. Senate: Joanne Kuniansky (Socialist Workers Party), Natalie Lynn Rivera (Together for NJ), Veronica Fernandez (TBD)
CD-1: Austin Johnson (For the People)
CD-2: Ramon Mora Jr. (independent)
CD-3: Steven Welzer (Green Party), Ryan Michael Kelly (Affordability, Accountability, People)
CD-4: None
CD-5: Adam Rueda (Humane Sustainable Future)
CD-6: Inder Jit Soni (NJ Families First)
CD-7: Lana Leguía (Libertarian Party), Randall Terry (Life Truth Justice), Seamus Patrick O’Toole (Stop Israel’s Genocide)
CD-8: Aristotle Eliopoulos (independent), Craig Honts (Socialist Workers Party), Da’Shone Hughey (TBD)
CD-9: Teresa Bukovinac (Save Our Babies), Diomedes Minaya (God First)
CD-10: None
CD-11: Alan Bond (Hope for Tomorrow), Vincent Matrisciano (Common Sense Independent), Russell Jenkins (One for All)
CD-12: Andres Jinete (Green Party), Winston Jordan (Get Money Out)
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