John Hsu, a climate change activist, is mounting his second bid to challenge Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch) in the 6th district Democratic primary.
He said he would bracket with Lawrence Hamm, a former Newark school board member seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, in Middlesex and Monmouth counties.
But Hsu declined to say why he was challenging Pallone.
“Let me think about that,” he told the New Jersey Globe. “Let me talk to some folks first.”
He launched a run against Pallone in 2019 but dropped out after raising $5,092, saying he wanted to focus on helping Bernie Sanders win the presidency. He had $3,628 left at the end of 2020 but stopped filing reports with the Federal Election Commission two years ago and appears to have ignored warning letters.
“It’s still there,” Hsu said. “Some of it was donated to other campaigns. I’ll have to update those filings.”
Hsu said he’s contributed to Hamm and another candidate, Patricia Campos-Medina.
Pallone has already won the Monmouth County Democratic convention and must decide if he wants to run on the line with U.S. Senate candidate Andy Kim or with the person he supports for the nomination, Tammy Murphy.
A congressman since 1988, Pallone has $3,069,887 cash-on-hand.
Three other candidates from the left tried to take on Pallone in the 2020 primary: Russell Cirincione, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, and Zachary Roeill. Roeill dropped out before the filing deadline.
Cirincione raised $62,599, and Roeill had a $3,471 haul. Al-Khatahtbeh never reported raising anything.
Pallone won 79% of the vote, defeating Cirincione (17%) by 44,521 votes; Al-Khatahtbeh received 4%.
Hsu filed his statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission today.