Tag: rush holt

Two more Democrats take their balls and go home.

Freshman Gloria McLeod of CA-35 and long-time Representative Rush Holt of NJ-12. No great loss, in either case. McLeod’s a California apparatchik who apparently misses the little pond of county government and Holt was someone who aspired to scientific gadfly*, but only achieved “mild aggravation.” Double-digit Democratic districts – say that five times, real fast – that were lovingly redistricted to keep ’em that way**; still, every time we see one of these seats get filled with a hothouse flower of a freshman legislator it’s a mild gain for us.

I wonder if this is the end of the retirement wave? Continue reading Two more Democrats take their balls and go home.

Frank Lautenberg/Rush Holt paid out race-tinged hush money?

I believe that the word that both the senior Democratic Senator from NJ, and the Democratic Congressman from NJ-12, would insist on seeing here would be allegedly.  As in, allegedly former canvass worker Christopher Nastuk was told that it would be, ah, “demographically undesirable” to use African-American canvassers in Holt’s lily-white district.  Or, allegedly the minority canvassers that Nastuk did hire were fired anyway “and replaced by white canvassers whose names were provided by e-mail in a text document titled “nobrolists” — which Nastuk said he took to mean “no bro-thers,” in a disparaging slang.”  Not to mention, allegedly Nastuk got fired after raising a stink about this.  And, finally, allegedly Nastuk and four other plaintiffs took this to court and got a 40K settlement out of Lautenberg and Holt.

No, wait, that last one is a matter of record. Continue reading Frank Lautenberg/Rush Holt paid out race-tinged hush money?

Hmm. Meet Mike Halfacre (R Cand, NJ-12).

(H/T: Instapundit) This one is speculative: while NJ-12 is only D+5, its incumbent is Rush Holt, who has held the seat for ten years now, with election margins in the 60s.  On the other hand, that’s also enough time to get sloppy; he’s a good bit more liberal than you’d expect from somebody in a D+5 seat; and if this report is correct he’s not handling well being on the other side from actual populists.

So… here’s Mike Halfacre.  Mayor of Fair Haven, running on fiscal responsibility (has lowered property taxes and reduced debt as Mayor), frankly looks better than Holt did with regard to access at Holt’s own town hall.  This isn’t my old district when I was living in NJ, but I know the area: it’s not infertile ground for Republicans.  The fact that he’s pro-choice will be a deal-breaker for some people reading this, which is of course their privilege.

If it’s not a deal-breaker, keep an eye on this one.  It may prove interesting.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.