Princetonians, Democrats win big in New Jersey races

Senate | Lautenberg

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has been elected to a fifth term in office, beating Republican challenger Dick Zimmer.

Lautenberg has represented New Jersey in the senate for all but two of the last 26 years.

In his campaign, Lautenberg had positioned himself has an opponent to the policies of the Bush administration. He also pledged to fight against special interests, especially the oil, tobacco, alcohol and firearms lobbies.

Recent independent polls had indicated that most voters hadn’t heard of Zimmer, who entered into the race relatively late in April 2008. The incumbent also had significantly more in campaign funding than his competitor. Zimmer, who served in the House of Representatives from 1991 to 1997, was a lecturer at the Wilson School from 1997 to 2000. He is most famous for drafting Megan’s Law, a piece of legislation that requires law officials to make information public to local residents regarding registered sex offenders living in the area.

In his campaign, Zimmer had criticized Lautenberg’s age — he is 84 years old — as well as his unwillingness to debate. The two candidates debated only twice, both times within weeks of election day.

— Doug Eshleman

Congressional District 12 | Holt

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) easily won re-election to his sixth term in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, garnering 62 percent of votes in New Jersey’s 12th district. His opponent Alan Bateman, deputy mayor of Holmdel Township, received 36 percent.

Holt, whose district includes the University, was the assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory prior to winning his seat for the first time in 1998. In defeating Republican Congressman Mike Pappas in that election, he became the first Democrat in 20 years to represent his district.

University voters showed strong support for Holt. Roughly 79 percent of voters in Princeton Borough District 1 and Township District 12, where voters are predominantly University undergraduates, supported Holt.

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Bateman, a former hospital administrator and business consultant, was a municipal chair for the Republican Party before being elected deputy mayor of Holmdel Township in 2005. Bateman ran a “grass-roots campaign focused on fiscal responsibility and sustainable quality-of-life for residents,” according to his campaign website.

David Corsi of Oceanport was the Independent candidate on the ballot and received less than 2 percent of votes. Holt is currently a member of the Education and Labor Committee, the Natural Resources Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He also serves as chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel.

— Joanne Chong

Congressional District 7 | Lance GS '82

Republican New Jersey State Senator Leonard Lance GS ’82 has defeated Democratic State Assemblywoman Linda Stender in a hotly contested race in New Jersey’s seventh district. He will replace incumbent Mike Ferguson (R-N.J.), who did not seek re-election this year. Lance has served in the State Senate for the past six years, and served in the State Assembly before that.

“I’m very gratified,” Lance said of the outcome. “I hope to serve in the tradition of Princeton, where our motto is service to the nation, and I hope to be able to do that in Washington.”

Lance, a New Jersey native, received his MPA from the Wilson School. He is a self-described moderate who strongly opposes high taxes and wasteful spending, and who also supports abortion rights and increasing tax incentives for alternative energy sources.

“The fact that Princeton believes in service to the nation and the world is emblematic of what Wilson [School] students try to achieve,” he explained.

Over the course of the campaign Stender repeatedly attempted to link Lance to President Bush and criticized him for his support of the state’s large budget increases. Stender also lost a close race to Ferguson in 2006, when she ran on a similar platform.

Lance has said he will not raise taxes and positioned himself as the candidate with more financial restraint. “It’s counterproductive to raise taxes during an economic downturn,” he said.

— Sarabeth Sanders

Princeton Borough Council | Kevin Wilkes '83

Democratic candidates, running mostly unopposed, swept local elections in Princeton Borough and Township on Tuesday.

In the only election in which the Republican Party fielded a candidate, Borough Councilman Kevin Wilkes ’83 was chosen to fill the remaining year of former Councilwoman Wendy Benchley’s unfinished term, defeating challenger Dudley Sipprelle.

Wilkes was appointed by the Borough Council last April to fill Benchley’s seat until the November election.

On his campaign website, Sipprelle criticized the Borough Council for allowing property taxes to become “heavy” and “unfair.”

In an interview with The Daily Princetonian in April, Wilkes said that his main goal in office would be to develop a long-term plan for the Borough similar to the University’s Campus Plan.

Councilwoman Barabara Trelstad and Councilman David Goldfarb ran unopposed and were re-elected to three-year terms.

In the Township, Deputy Mayor Bernie Miller was reelected, and Susan Nemeth won a seat on the Committee for the first time. Both candidates were unopposed.

Nemeth will replace retiring Committeewoman Victoria Bergman, who served one three-year term before announcing her retirement last February.

— Mendy Fisch