William Widnall Archives - New Jersey Globe

78% of successful House challengers were political unknowns

May 11, 2020 3:16 pmMay 14, 2020 10:25 am

In a race for Congress, New Jerseyans are historically more likely to vote for someone they had never really heard of against an incumbent Member of Congress than they are to go with someone who has been winning elections for...

Trump names GOP donor as postmaster general. Could that mean the return of local postmasters as congressional picks?

May 8, 2020 1:50 pmJuly 21, 2020 10:39 am

President Donald Trump named a top Republican contributor as the new Postmaster General, returning the post to a political appointee for the first time in 48 years. Post offices were once the ultimate patronage pits for political organizations, some of...

Van Drew breaks with GOP, supports lifting of ERA ratification deadline

February 13, 2020 11:22 amFebruary 13, 2020 11:57 am

Party-switching Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) voted with House Democrats today to remove the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, becoming just one of five Republicans to support the bill. While still a Democrat, Van Drew became a co-sponsor...

ERA extension gets support from 6 of 12 New Jersey House members

July 28, 2019 4:18 pm

A resolution in Congress to extend the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment has six co-sponsors from the New Jersey delegation: Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-Rocky Hill), Donald Norcross (D-Camden), Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), Albio Sires...

Bob Dole turns 96

July 22, 2019 9:02 pmJuly 22, 2019 10:11 pm

Bob Dole, who turned 96 today, served with 27 New Jerseyans during his 35 years in Congress — five in the Senate, where he represented Kansas from 1969 to 1996, and 22 in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he...

The story of Hackensack Harry

March 3, 2019 11:54 pmMarch 4, 2019 10:00 am

Before Bill Bradley, there was Harry C. Harper. Known as “Hackensack Harry,” Harper spent ten seasons as a major league baseball pitcher. The big left-hander was the starting pitcher for the New York Yankees game six of the 1921 World...

Some 1960s Bergen County political history

March 3, 2019 10:22 pmMarch 4, 2019 8:59 am

Until the U.S. Supreme Court’s one-man, one-vote ruling, Bergen County began the 1960’s with one state Senator – Walter Jones (R-Norwood) — and seven Assembly seats. Jones gave up that Senate seat after eight years in 1961 to run for...