Former two-time congressional candidate Frank Pallotta is preparing to seek the Republican nomination for State Assembly in the 39th district next year, setting up a primary fight against two incumbents, Robert Auth (R-Old Tappan) and freshman John Azzariti (R-Saddle River).
While running against both, the conservative Mahwah Republican is setting his sights specifically on Auth, a 68-year-old six-term incumbent. He said Auth has become increasingly disconnected with conservative Republicans, citing his “growing alliance” with a moderate, anti-Trump gubernatorial candidate, State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield).
“LD39 needs a representative who understands the needs of our community, not someone coasting on tenure,” Pallotta said. “If this is what Assemblyman Auth calls ‘politics as usual,’ it’s time for a change.”
A former investment banker, Pallotta self-funded two challenges to Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) in New Jersey’s 5th district, and both times won Republican primaries despite being off-the-line in Bergen County. The state is widely expected to have office block ballots in the 2025 primary election.
Pallotta is forming an exploratory committee as he looks to build a campaign to take out Auth. It’s not immediately clear if he will take on Azzariti.
Auth has been a strong vote-getter in GOP primaries but a weak fundraiser. His most recent campaign finance report shows him with no money in the bank – he’s literally in deficit spending – and a $12,983 debt.
As an Assembly candidate, Pallotta is pledging to advocate for parental rights, law enforcement, lower taxes, and job development. He also says he’ll fight overdevelopment and address the high costs of taxes.
“No voice is louder than that of the voters, and right now, I appear to be the only one listening,” he said.
A former aide to the late State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest), Auth was popular enough with Republican county committee members in 2021 to come within eight votes of winning a State Senate seat after Cardinale died in office Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-River Vale) defeated him, 111-103, in a strange race where Auth dropped out at one point and then re-entered the contest. Schepisi and Auth are longtime political rivals.
In 2023, Auth was re-elected to the Assembly by 4,105 votes – a number that Pallotta thinks is too close for a legislative district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1977.
“Last year’s Assembly race, one of the closest in nearly two decades, clearly demonstrates the need for new leadership in District 39,” Pallotta said. “We cannot afford to lose this seat as we did with CD-5,” he said, referencing the 2016 upset in a long-held Republican congressional district.
In his 2020 congressional campaign, Pallotta beat the Bergen County GOP organization pick, John McCann, by twenty percentage points in the Republican primary. In Bergen County, Pallotta held McCann to a five-point, 1,258-vote margin.
Running without organization support in Bergen again in the 2022 primary, Pallotta defeated Nick De Gregorio, a Marine combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, by 1,461 votes, 50%-47%, after coming within 961 votes of winning Bergen.
Gottheimer beat Pallotta by seven points in 2020 after spending $1.2 million of his own money on that race, and then lost a 2022 rematch by more than ten points after spending considerably less of his personal funds.
Pallotta took some conservative positions that likely didn’t help him win over swing voters. He pledged his support for federal abortion restrictions – a position he briefly walked back at one point only to reaffirm it a few hours later – and his quote from a 2020 debate calling the far-right Oath Keepers “good people” continually haunted his campaign.
During congressional redistricting, the 5th district was also redrawn to be more Democratic by taking in more of Bergen County and less rural Republican territory. The new lines would have backed Joe Biden by 12 points and Gov. Phil Murphy by just under one percentage point; most election forecasters considered it to be a Likely Democratic race.
Auth criticized Pallotta’s announcement days before the 2024 election as “self-serving and distracts from the real task at hand: helping Republicans win now.”
“Instead of focusing his energy on supporting our candidates this year and ensuring GOP victories, Pallotta has chosen to prioritize his political ambitions over the success of our party. It’s disappointing to see someone with Pallotta’s platform undermine our efforts by stirring up unnecessary division when we should all be working together,” Auth said. “No one should be surprised as he is a twice-failed politician who has wasted hundreds of thousands of donor dollars, divided our party, and failed to be a productive member of the Republican team — typical Frank Pallotta.”
This story was updated at 11:19 AM with comment from Auth.