Phil Rizzo, a businessman and pastor who finished second in the Republican gubernatorial primary last June, will take on two-term Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) in New Jersey’s 11th district.
“I’m running for Congress because empowering New Jersey didn’t end with the Governor’s race. Now it means standing up to the federal government and radical, out-of-touch Leftist politicians and unelected bureaucrats trying to tell New Jerseyans how to live our lives,” Rizzo said. “It also means bringing appropriate federal accountability to New Jersey’s state government when it oversteps our Constitutional rights.”
In last month’s general election, Republican Jack Ciattarelli carried the 11th district by seven percentage points over the incumbent Democrat, Gov. Phil Murphy. That has some Republicans viewing the 11th as potentially competitive in next year’s mid-term elections, depending on how Sherrill fares in redistricting.
Rizzo lost to Ciattarelli by a 49.5%-25.97% margin in the June primary, with Ciattarelli becoming the first gubernatorial challenger in more than 100 years to sweep all 21 counties in a GOP primary.
As a candidate for governor, Rizzo raised just enough to qualify for matching funds but missed the deadline by one day. He used a high-overhead consultant to raise money, leaving him little to reach primary voters.
Seven other Republicans are seeking support for the chance to take on Sherrill: Morris County Commissioner Tayfun Selen, a former Chatham Township mayor; Morris County Republican State Committeeman Larry Casha, a former Kinnelon council president; former assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Paul DeGroot; screenwriter Hillery Brotschol, former RNC staffer Tom Toomey, realtor Patrick Quinn; and attorney Robert Kovic, a former Ridgefield councilman.
Sherrill’s 2020 opponent, former U.S. Senate tax counsel Rosemary Becchi, has expressed some interest in running but has not taken steps to assemble a campaign. Sherrill beat Becchi by 29,150 votes, 53%-47%, in 2020.
In that race, Casha had emerged as the front-runner until Republicans convinced Becchi to drop her primary challenge to Republican Tom Kean, Jr. in the 7th and instead run against Sherrill.
Sherrill had more than $4.6 million banked as of the end of the September, the last time she had to file with the Federal Election Commission.
As a House candidate, Rizzo has pledged to fight for New Jersey residents.
“The people of New Jersey are ready to take back our state. We’re tired of being told we don’t have a voice in our kids’ education, our health decisions, our livelihoods, our speech, our safety, and our elections,” Rizzo said. “The challenge ahead will take a fighter with the true spirit of New Jersey — someone who won’t be pushed around, who doesn’t take no for an answer, and who won’t back down when it comes to defending the freedoms of our people and lifting the voices of New Jerseyans.”
Rizzo enters the race with a compelling life story.
When he was four-years-old, a basement beam fell on and crushed his right arm, causing an amputation at his elbow. Still, he excelled at sports and played high school football at Morris Catholic.
But Rizzo also faced criticism over a controversial real estate deal while he was serving as pastor of a small Hudson County church. He bought a $1.55 million, five-bedroom home on six acres in Harding Township and then sold it to his church for $1.65 million two years later. Because the church owns the home, it’s exempt from local property taxes.
Sherrill demonstrated early fundraising prowess as a congressional candidate, amassing more than $1.2 million by the end of 2017. Her cash-on-hand helped scare one of the most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding), out of the race just two weeks after Sherrill released her fundraising numbers.
She raised $8,610,281 in 2018, flipping a seat Republicans had held for 34 years.
Sherrill won her House race by 46,262 votes, 57%-42%.
In total, Sherrill has raised over $17.3 million since becoming a candidate for Congress in May 2017.
The 11th district has trended Democratic since it was last drawn a decade ago with 24,176 more Republicans than Democrats.
The current 11th, which will change no later than next month, has 10,285 more Democrats than Republicans and Joe Biden carried the district by a 53%-46% margin. Donald Trump won the 11th by a narrow one-point margin in 2016, when there were 13,813 more Republicans than Democrats; Frelinghuysen won his twelfth term by a 58%-39% margin that year.