Matthew Jenkins, a small businessman from Colts Neck, will be the likely Democratic candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 4th district, where Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Manchester) is seeking re-election to a 42nd term.
Jenkins won the organization line in Monmouth County on Saturday and Ocean County on Sunday without opposition.
The 4th district is the most Republican in New Jersey and Democrats have little hope of flipping the seat.
Jenkins grew up in Toms River, worked as a biochemistry and molecular biology researcher, and ran a custom furniture shop. He later built a residential contracting company but switched to the fitness industry during the 2008 recession.
Smith was first elected to Congress in 1980, at age 27, ousting a 13-term incumbent who was under indictment for his role in the Abscam scandal. Smith won, 57%-41%, in a district that Ronald Reagan carried by three points.
He’s been re-elected 20 times and is now the longest-serving congressman in New Jersey history.
The senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Smith faces five challengers in the GOP primary. He won Republican conventions this year in Monmouth and Ocean counties by lopsided margins.
In 2020, Smith easily defeated Stephanie Schmid, a former State Department official who moved to New Jersey to run and then turned out to be a heavily flawed candidate.
Democrats thought they had a shot at beating Smith last year when Democrat Josh Welle raised $1.8 million, the often underestimated GOP congressman raised $1.5 million and won by 12 percentage points.
In 1982, Smith faced former Senate President Joseph P. Merlino (D-Trenton) in a race that he was widely expected to lose.
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.
The cigar-chomping, 60-year-old Merlino decided to go to Congress as a sort of consolation prize after finishing fourth in the 1981 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
After a debate, Smith approached Merlino to tell him that some of the things he said in the debate simply were not true. Merlino was with a reporter.
“Beat it, kid,” Merlino told him. “’I’m talking to the press. When I get to Washington, look me up. I may give you a job as a page.”
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 didn’t approve of “Boss Merlino” distorting Smith’s record. The ad then cut to an energetic Smith campaigning as 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.
That was the last time his percentage fell below 60%.