Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) and Chris Smith (R-Manchester), two Republicans who have frustrated the more conservative wings of their party at times, both officially got primary challengers today – but neither has much to worry about.
In the 4th congressional district, Smith is set to face a challenge from David Schmidt, who ran as an independent for the same district in 2022 and got 1,197 votes, or 0.5%.
Smith, a more bipartisan-minded legislator than some of his colleagues, was held to 58% of the vote in the 2022 primary against Roger Stone-affiliated podcaster Mike Crispi. There was some vague chatter about whether a stronger challenger would seek to take him on this year – and about whether Donald Trump would get involved – but that never materialized, and Schmidt certainly doesn’t look like a serious enough contender to force Smith into a real race.
And in the 7th congressional district, Kean will take on Roger Bacon, a pro-Trump perennial candidate who is now on his tenth bid for public office under a variety of different party banners. In fact, Bacon ran for the same seat just two years ago as a Democrat against then-Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes). (He got less than 6% of the vote.)
The New Jersey Globe had previously reported on Bacon’s candidacy this year, but it was an open question as to whether he would amass a sufficient number of signatures to make the ballot, something he didn’t do in his 2021 gubernatorial campaign. Given that he submitted 424 signatures today – 224 more than he needs – that should be enough to qualify, absent massive issues with his petitions.
Elsewhere across the state, a new name emerged for the 3rd congressional district, which Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) is departing to run for U.S. Senate: Democrat Brian Schkeeper, who appears to be a choral teacher from Medford. Four other more prominent Democratic candidates have already been running for Kim’s seat for months, so it’s hard to see Schkeeper becoming a major player in the race.
A number of other more obviously notable candidates filed for Congress today as well, among them Kim and First Lady Tammy Murphy, the two top candidates for the Democratic Senate nomination. And Kim didn’t just file the 1,000 signatures necessary to make the ballot – he filed 6,093.