New Jersey voters endorsed incumbents of both parties in congressional primaries around the state Tuesday, fizzling conservatives' hopes that fledgling tea party candidates would fuel an antiestablishment tide.
All seven incumbents facing primary challenges, including Republican Leonard Lance in the competitive 7th Congressional District, had secured their party's nomination for re-election within an hour of polls closing Tuesday. Six of New Jersey's 13 congressional representatives faced no primary competition.
Democratic incumbent John Adler and Republican Jon Runyan won the nomination in South Jersey's 3rd district. The race between first-term Rep. Adler and ex-NFL lineman Runyan in November could be one of the most competitive and expensive in the country.
Adler had raised $2.3 million as of mid-May; Runyan had $225,000. Both have been fundraising since.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appeared at Runyan campaign headquarters Tuesday night to urge Republicans to help unseat Adler in November.
"Let's come together behind our nominee, Jon Runyan," Christie said.
The following incumbents also won: Republicans Chris Smith, 4th district; Frank LoBiondo, 2nd district; Rodney Freylinghuysen, 11th district.
Democrats Rob Andrews in the 1st district and Albio Sires in the 13th district.
In the 8th district, Roland Straten won the Republican primary while in the 1st, Republican Dale Glading won. Michael Agosta of Fair Lawn won the GOP nomination in the 9th district.
Democrat Tod Theise won the primary in the 5th district. In the 11th district, Douglas Herbert won the Democratic nomination.
"What we're seeing is that there is still real strength in having the organization line given out by the party establishment," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University. "That's what people see on the ballot among a long list of names, and that's who they vote for."
In District 3, for example, Runyan had the Republican Party line in Burlington and Ocean counties, "and that made all the difference," Dworkin said.
In his victory speech, Runyan indicated he would try to use his lack of political experience to his advantage.
"To the people who question my experience in elected office, I say I have no experience raising taxes over and over and over," he said as Christie nodded approvingly behind him.
New Jersey's congressional delegation has eight Democrats and five Republicans. All are seeking re-election.
Republican Scott Garrett and Democrats Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Steve Rothman, Donald Payne and Rush Holt faced no primary challenge. All will face the winner of contested primaries in November.
Pallone will face the winner of a tight primary between Highlands Mayor Anna Little and newspaper publisher Diane Gooch. Little is an immigration lawyer and a former Monmouth County freeholder. She's a darling of the tea party movement.
Gooch is the establishment Republican candidate. Until she started campaigning, Gooch was the publisher of the Two River Times, a Red Bank-based community newspaper. She and her husband bought the paper from Geraldo Rivera in 2004.
Little had 51.9 percent of the vote with three-quarters of the precincts reporting.
