A candidate running under the banner of “Stop Israel’s Genocide” in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district will be allowed to remain on the ballot after a challenge from a former local Democratic chairwoman fell short.
Seamus Patrick O’Toole filed to run for the 7th district, where GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) and Democrat Rebecca Bennett are locked in New Jersey’s most competitive House race, with 299 signatures, 49 more than he needed. Michele Kidd, who led the Hillsborough Democrats until this year, filed a challenge asserting that 55 of the signatures were invalid.
Seventeen of those signatures were on one particular signature sheet that Kidd argued was defective due to issues with its circulator. O’Toole, however, was able to call in that circulator to testify and explain the petition’s flaws; Administrative Law Judge Kimberly Holmes found her testimony to be credible and allowed the 17 challenged signatures to stand.
That put O’Toole back above the 250-signature threshold, and Kidd’s attorneys subsequently withdrew the challenge.
While O’Toole is extremely unlikely to win a seat in Congress in November, his presence on the ballot could have implications for the race between Kean and Bennett. Given his slogan, it’s more likely he’d siphon some votes away from Bennett; in a sign of how seriously Democrats are taking the race, Kidd was represented by attorneys from the Elias Law Group, a major national Democratic law firm.
Another independent candidate in the 7th district, anti-abortion activist and Tennessee resident Randall Terry, ended his campaign earlier today in the face of a challenge from the state Republican Party. A challenge to a third candidate, Libertarian Lana Leguía, is still unresolved.