With Democratic incumbents eyeing congressional seat, GOP faces uphill race for Senate, Assembly

Knowing that their district is safe, the 7th district’s Democratic incumbents are beginning to look beyond next month’s election and are focusing on an open Congressional seat in 2024.

Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel) has already declared she’s running for Congress in New Jersey’s 3rd district, where Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) is giving up his seat to run for the U.S. Senate.

The district’s other two incumbents – State Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Delran) and Assemblyman Herb Conway Jr. (D-Delran) – have publicly expressed interest in the open House seat.

Conway seems likely to run but has said he would decide after he’s re-elected to the legislature.

The 7th district seems likely to be the epicenter of some significant changes to the state’s political landscape; however, Republicans in the district are unlikely to experience any political gains, as the district has only sent Democrats to the Assembly since 1997.

Still, Republicans are committed to fighting this year and are out knocking on doors and engaging with voters.

“If our opponents don’t want the job of representing the people of the 7th legislative district in the state legislature and would rather campaign for Congress, then they should drop out of the race, and Doug Dillon, Eileen Bleistine, and I will do the job,” James Fazzone, the Republican State Senate candidate in the 7th, said in a statement to the New Jersey Globe.

Fazzone, formerly the mayor of Burlington City, was a Democrat but switched parties in 2015 due to disputes with the city council – and after endorsing Republican Chris Christie in 2013.   He was first elected mayor in 2007 and served two terms before losing a GOP primary in 2015.

In addition to Fazzone, the Republicans are running Douglas Dillon and Eileen Bleistine for Assembly.  Both have run for office before, but without success.

A former Moorestown Zoning Board member, Dillon ran against Murphy and Conaway in 2021 and got crushed; he finished 16,591 votes behind Murphy.

Last year, Bleistine ran for the Cinnaminson Board of Education, but finished fifth in a race for three seats.  One of the winners was her daughter, Katherine, who ran 329 votes ahead of Bleistine.

Despite her loss last year, Bleistine’s experience running for school board might have bolstered her appeal to Republicans – especially in a year where education and parental rights are dominating in conservative circles.

The campaign lists parental rights in education as a top priority.

“Our stance is clear: government is not a co-parent for our children,” their website states. “We advocate to keep parents in charge of their children’s futures, to implement academic excellence in our public schools, and ensure the people come first always.”

Fazzone echoed this sentiment, centering parental rights in education as the top issue he and his running mates are hearing on the campaign trail.

“Our team is running a grassroots campaign. We are knocking on thousands of doors and attending every event in the district,” Fazzone said to the New Jersey Globe. “The one issue we repeatedly hear on the campaign trail is parental rights. It doesn’t matter if they are Republican, Democrat, or independent. Parents want an age-appropriate curriculum taught in the classroom and don’t want schools hiding information about their children from them.”

The campaign also lists affordability and public safety as top issues – noting their commitment to lowering taxes and cutting wasteful spending while strengthening and fully funding the police.

Although this year’s political environment might be favorable for Republicans and focusing on education might galvanize conservative voters, it is doubtful that the Republicans will make gains in the 7th this year.

The Democrats might be eying running for Congress, but they are strong incumbents in a district that overwhelmingly goes for Democrats.

Gov. Phil Murphy won the district with a deafening 60% of the vote when he ran for a second term two years ago.

In national politics, the Democrats do even better –Joe Biden won the district with 65.11%, compared to former President Donald Trump’s 33.65% in 2020.

Only one Republican has been able to win the district over the last 26 years: Diane Allen, who won an Assembly seat in 1995 and a Senate seat in 1997.  She retired in 2017, and Singleton flipped the seat with 66% of the vote.