2008 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey

This district contains all or parts of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties. Rob Andrews was the Democratic nominee and the Saints Prison Ministry founder Dale Glading was the Republican nominee. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

Incumbent Democrat Rob Andrews, in a surprise move on April 2, 2008, announced that he would be challenging incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic primary in June.[2] His House seat, which is reliably Democratic (CPVI: D+14), thus became an open seat. The filing deadline for primary candidates was April 7, leaving only a few days for candidates to declare.

Andrews' wife, Camille Andrews, won the Democratic primary for his seat in the House, while Andrews himself was beaten by Lautenberg in the Senate primary. After this defeat, Rob Andrews decided to run for re-election to his House seat; Camille withdrew her candidacy on September 3, and Rob Andrews announced that on September 4 that he would take her place as the Democratic candidate. He maintained that his wife had not been merely a placeholder candidate and said that he had only decided to run for re-election a week before he announced it; according to Andrews, his change of heart was a result of personal reflection.[3] Andrews easily won re-election on November 4, receiving 71.9% of the vote.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the southern part of the state, containing all or portions of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May: Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties. It has been represented by Republican Frank LoBiondo since 1995, and he ran for re-election in 2008. The Democratic nominee was Cape May city councilman Dave Kurkowski (campaign website). Other candidates included Green Jason Grover, Socialist Constantino Rozzo, Peter Boyce for the Constitution Party, and Independent Gary Stein. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Republican'. LoBiondo defeated Kurkowski in the general election by a margin of almost 20%.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district contains all or portions of Burlington, Camden and Ocean counties. The Republican nominee was Chris Myers, Mayor of Medford, VP of Lockheed Martin, and Gulf War veteran. The Democratic nominee was State Senator John Adler, a candidate who faced an outsider disadvantage in that the only city that is in both the 3rd Congressional District and his legislative district is his home town of Cherry Hill. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'No Clear Favorite'.

Incumbent Republican Jim Saxton announced that he would retire at the end of his current term.[4] This district is historically Republican, but George W. Bush barely won with 51% to 49% for John Kerry in 2004 (CPVI=D+3). Also, Al Gore won this district by a significant margin in 2000. Some Democrats think that Saxton had managed to keep his seat for so long (since 1984) because he rarely faced credible opposition.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

A mid-September internal poll by McLaughlin & Associates showed Myers defeating Adler by a margin of 33% to 29%, with a plurality of voters - 37% - undecided.[5] The poll attributed Myers' lead to a general dissatisfaction among voters towards Adler's negative ads and negative mailers from various political committees supporting the Democrat. It also indicated that Adler's low approval ratings were partially due to the perception that he is a "career politician" and the fact that he is an Ivy League-educated lawyer. Adler's association with unpopular Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine also hurt him, while Myers was helped from his endorsement by incumbent Rep. Jim Saxton, who held a 53 percent favorable rating.[6] However, later polls indicated that the race was too close to call.

In the closest congressional race in New Jersey in 2008, Adler narrowly won the open seat, with 51.7% of the vote to Myers' 48.3%.

Many credit Adler's narrow victory to massive turnouts in liberal and African American towns such as Willingboro and Cherry Hill.

This district lies in the central part of the state, including all or portions of Burlington County, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties. It has been represented by Republican Chris Smith since 1981. The Democratic nominee was author and teacher Josh Zeitz (campaign website). CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Republican'. Smith won re-election in a landslide, garnering about 100,000 more votes than his Democratic challenger.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district contains most of the Northern New Jersey Skylands Region of Sussex and Warren counties and stretches along the New York border into Northern Passaic and Bergen Counties, including the townships of Paramus and Ridgewood and tends to lean Republican. Republican incumbent Scott Garrett had been elected by safe margins in the past but in 2006 he only won by 10 points against Paul Aronsohn, the smallest margin of his career. The Democratic nominee was Rabbi Dennis Shulman. Garrett was the only incumbent in the state thought to possibly be at risk. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Republican Favored'. Shulman's campaign enjoyed a successful fundraising operation, heavy funding from the Democratic Party, extensive coverage in the press including newspaper endorsements, and the Democratic wave sweeping the nation as Barack Obama ran for president. However, Garrett was able to defeat Shulman by 14% in the general election and will begin his fourth term in the House of Representatives in 2009.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the east-central part of the state, including all or portions of Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset and Union counties. It has been represented by Democrat Frank Pallone since 1993. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'. Republican Robert McLeod, a retired municipal prosecutor and municipal judge and former Keyport borough councilman, ran against Pallone, who was re-elected with about two-thirds of the vote.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

7th district election

November 4, 2008 (2008-11-04)

Nominee Leonard Lance Linda Stender Michael Hsing Party Republican Democratic Independent Popular vote 142,092 116,171 15,826 Percentage 50.8% 41.6% 5.7%

U.S. Representative before election Mike Ferguson Republican Elected U.S. Representative Leonard Lance Republican

Congressman Leonard Lance defeated state Assembly Woman Linda Stender in a long fought race for the highly competitive seat. Leonard Lance announced his plans to continue to "fight for the republican party I have come to know" and stating that he has suggested an update to the Republican Party.

The incumbent, Republican Representative Mike Ferguson, announced on November 19, 2007, that he would not seek re-election, citing family obligations.[7]

The district was considered to lean Republican, but the 2008 election was expected to be highly competitive, considering the closeness of the 2006 election when Ferguson, the incumbent Republican, narrowly defeated Stender, the Democratic challenger. Ultimately, Lance received 50.8% of the vote and was elected to serve in Congress.

Linda Stender, New Jersey Assemblywoman, and the 2006 Congressional nominee, was unopposed in the Democratic primary. She was narrowly defeated by Ferguson in the 2006 election.

Seven candidates appeared on the Republican primary ballot:[8]

• A.D. Amar of Warren, New Jersey, Seton Hall University Business Professor
• Kelly Hatfield, former Summit Council President
• Leonard Lance, State Senator and former Minority Leader
• Martin L. Marks, Mayor of Scotch Plains
• Thomas Roughneen of Watchung
• Kate Whitman of Peapack-Gladstone, daughter of former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman
• Darren Young of Summit

Three other candidates who had sought support in Republican conventions in the district, but failed to win any organizational support, declined to file petitions to run in the Republican primary: Warren Mayor Victor Sordillo, Bridgewater Councilman Michael Hsing, and former Hillsborough Deputy Mayor Chris Venis.[8] Hsing, however, later filed to run in the general election as an independent.

During the convention process, Lance won the "organization line" in Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, which together account for about 70 percent of the Republican primary voters in the district.[9] Hatfield won the line in Union County and Whitman won in Middlesex County. The portion of the district in Middlesex has by far the fewest registered Republican voters of any of the four counties in the district.[10]

• Tom Abrams of Raritan, New Jersey, a marketing executive and peace activist, running under the "Prosperity Not War" slogan
• Dean Greco of Flemington, New Jersey, a middle school teacher, running under the "All-Day Breakfast Party" slogan
• Michael Hsing of Bridgewater, New Jersey, Bridgewater Township Councilman and a technology executive

The 7th District was one of two open congressional seats in New Jersey for the 2008 elections, the other being the 3rd district, being vacated by retiring Republican Jim Saxton.

As of July, Stender had a huge lead over Lance in terms of both funds raised and cash on hand.[11][12] In fact, Lance was trailing independent Michael Hsing in terms of cash on hand. In spite of Stender's financial advantage, Lance still polled fairly evenly with her throughout the race.

In mid-September a poll showed Stender leading Lance 36 to 33 percent with Hsing at 9 percent. There was some speculation that Hsing, a Republican councilman in Bridgewater, might act as a spoiler by taking Republican votes away from Lance.[13][14] The Democratic Party directly tried to take advantage of Hsing's conservatism by sending out direct mail attacking Lance's conservative credentials in order to divert Republican voters to Hsing.[15] However, an internal poll conducted by Stender's campaign in late October showed that Lance was leading in the race by four points.[16] On October 31, The Pindell Report changed its rating of the race from "Leans Democratic" to "Leans Republican."[17]

Lance and Stender debated each other twice during the campaign. In September, they met in Scotch Plains for a debate hosted at the Jewish Community Campus of Central New Jersey. It was moderated by Westfield rabbi Douglas Segal. The candidates met in October in Edison for a second debate, which was televised on News 12 New Jersey and moderated by Walt Kane.

On October 21, The Newark Star-Ledger editorial board endorsed Lance in the 2008 election. On October 25, The New York Times followed suit. Eight other newspapers also endorsed Lance over Stender. Stender's bid was not endorsed by a single newspaper during the campaign.

Both major-party candidates have campaigned with prominent politicians of their party in the months before the election. Lance campaigned with then-U.S. President George W. Bush and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Stender campaigned with former U.S. president Bill Clinton and U.S. House of Representatives majority leader Steny Hoyer.

This district lies in the north-east part of the state, including all or portions of Essex and Passaic counties. It has been represented by Democrat Bill Pascrell since 1997. With Pascrell running for a seventh term, CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

The Republican nominee was Roland Straten, a professional engineer and United States Navy veteran from Paterson.

In the general election, the heavily Democratic district gave 70.9% of the vote to Pascrell—a landslide on par with his 71% against Jose Sandoval in 2006.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the north-east part of the state, including all or portions of Bergen and Hudson and Passaic counties. It has been represented by Democrat Steve Rothman since 1997, and in 2008 he announced that he would seek another term in Congress. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

The Republican nominee was Vince Micco, a retired United States Army officer who had served nine years in the military, including one in the Iraq War as a sergeant in a counter-intelligence unit.

Receiving 67.9% of the vote in the general election, Rothman was able to win re-election fairly easily.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the north-east part of the state, including all or portions of Essex, Hudson and Union counties. It has been represented by Democrat Donald M. Payne since 1989. Payne ran unopposed in 2006. In 2008, the Republicans again failed to nominate a candidate to oppose Payne, but the Socialist Workers Party nominated Michael Taber, an editor. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

Payne was re-elected in a landslide, garnering 99% of the vote.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the north-central part of the state, including all or portions of Essex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Sussex counties. It has been represented by Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen since 1995. The Democratic nominee is Tom Wyka (campaign website) of Parsippany-Troy Hills, a certified project manager in the information technology industry who was also the nominee in 2006. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Republican'.

The turnout for this election was much higher than the 2006 contest, but the result was more or less the same: Frelinghuysen defeated Wyka with roughly 62% of the vote.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the central part of the state, including all or portions of Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth and Somerset counties. It has been represented by Democrat Rush D. Holt Jr. since 1999. The Republican nominee was Alan Bateman, the deputy mayor of Holmdel Township. CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

62.5% of the vote went to Holt, giving him a sixth term in Congress.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

This district lies in the north-east part of the state, including all or portions of Essex, Hudson, Middlesex and Union counties. It has been represented by Democrat Albio Sires since November 2006. Sires' Republican challenger was Joseph Turula, a partner in the Jersey City law firm of Turula & Garcia, who served six years on the borough council of Pompton Lakes before moving to Jersey City. Louis Vernotico, a three-time failed candidate for New Jersey Senate, made his first bid for federal office under the slogan "Eliminate the Primary."

CQ Politics forecasted the race as 'Safe Democrat'.

In the general election, the heavily Democratic 13th District elected Sires to his second full term. He received 75.3% of the vote, compared to 21.9% for Turula and 2.8% for Vernotico.

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org

• Division of Elections from the New Jersey Secretary of State
• U.S. Congress candidates for New Jersey at Project Vote Smart
• New Jersey U.S. House Races from 2008 Race Tracker
• Campaign contributions for New Jersey congressional races from OpenSecrets.org