Malinowski wins Union County line

Tom Malinowski has won the Union County Democratic organization line, defeating Linda Weber by a 7-6 vote.  He is now the clear front runner to take on five-term Republican Rep. Leonard Lance in the general election.

The other three candidates in the race, Goutam Jois, David Pringle and Peter Jacob, received no votes.

This could mean the end of the Weber campaign.  Weber has said that she would drop out if he failed to secure organizational support in enough counties to give her 51% of the primary vote.
Malinowski, a former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State under President Obama, now has the lines in Union, Hunterdon Warren and Morris counties – which make up 63% of the Democratic vote in the 7th district.  Weber has Somerset and Essex, which represents 37%.

Weber’s political fortunes saw a reversal last month when State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden) won a special election for Union County Democrat chairman last month.  While Scutari was publicly neutral, his intra-party rival, State Sen. Joe Cryan (D-Union), has been allied with Weber, a banker from Berkeley Heights.