TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The race is on for Democratic candidates hoping to fill U.S. Rep. Rush Holt’s seat in Congress.
At least seven potential candidates have contacted Mercer County’s Democratic party chairwoman, Liz Muoio, to express interest in the seat since Tuesday, when Holt announced he would not seek re-election in November.
State Sen. Linda Greenstein of Middlesex County has said she intends to run; Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula of Somerset County and Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes are among those considering campaigning for the 12th District seat Holt has held for the better part of two decades.
The district stretches from Trenton to Plainfield and includes parts of Mercer, Middlesex, Union and Somerset counties. It is considered safely Democratic, with 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Within the district, there are more than three times as many registered Democrats in Mercer and Middlesex counties as in Union and Somerset.
Holt, a 65-year-old physicist, surprised many in the party by announcing he would give up the seat after eight terms. His unexpected announcement set off an intraparty scramble that may take awhile to sort out and is likely to result in a June Democratic primary.
Two other New Jersey incumbents in Congress, Reps. Jon Runyan and Rob Andrews, also have announced plans to step down at the end of the current term.
Runyan’s 3rd District seat is considered a partisan tossup with fewer than 10,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Democrat John Adler held the seat before Runyan, a Republican and former professional football player serving his second term.
Andrews, a Democrat of the 1st District, resigned from Congress this month after holding the seat since 1990 in perhaps the most reliably Democratic district in the state, anchored by party stronghold Camden County. An ethics committee has been looking into Andrews’ spending, but he has said the inquiry wasn’t a factor in his resignation.
State Sen. Donald Norcross, the brother of political powerbroker George Norcross III, is all but certain to win election to succeed Andrews.
New Jersey’s congressional delegation stands at six Democrats and six Republicans. One Democratic seat was eliminated as a result of the most recent redistricting.
The state’s delegation has no female representatives. One member is Hispanic and one is black; the state’s two U.S. senators are both men, and one is black and one Hispanic.
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