Incumbent representative Bob Franks announced in December 1999 that he would not seek re-election to his seat in the House, in order to run for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Frank Lautenberg. His announcement left the 7th district seat open and hotly contested, with eight candidates declaring their campaigns for the major parties' nominations.
In the June primary, Mike Ferguson and Maryanne Connelly won the Republican and Democratic nominations, respectively. The general election was also sharply contested between the two parties; the Democratic Party cited this seat as one of their top opportunities in the country. In June, prior to the primaries, a national Democratic spokesman said, "It's one of our best opportunities in the country to pick up a Republican-held seat. It's a competitive open seat with a suburban electorate that has been trending Democratic."
In the end, Ferguson narrowly won the open seat over Connelly.
Bob Franks's decision in December 1999 to run for U.S. Senate set off a scramble to establish residency; three of the four eventual candidates did not live in the district at the time of Franks's announcement. Mike Ferguson, a Monmouth County teacher who was running as a candidate in the adjacent 6th district, moved into the 7th; Tom Kean Jr., the son of the former governor, was studying international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston; and Patrick Morrissey, a U.S. House staffer, relocated from Washington to run. Only assemblyman Joel Weingarten, a resident of Millburn, actually lived in the district at the time Franks announced his campaign for U.S. Senate.[4]
Weingarten made an issue of his opponents' residencies. was also the oldest of the four candidates, at only 40 years.[4]
Kean, the son of a popular former governor and one of the state's most prominent political families, was the early favorite for the nomination in polling and the only candidate with significant name recognition. However, he lost the support of the county parties to Ferguson and Weingarten.[4] Kean was also the most liberal of the four candidates on gun control and abortion.[4]
In the final weeks of the campaign, observers considered Ferguson and Weingarten the favorites.[4]
Maryanne Connelly, the party's nominee in 1998, had performed surprisingly well against Franks, a popular incumbent.[4] Party leadership appeared prepared to nominate her against Franks again in 2000, but upon Franks's decision to run for U.S. Senate, they endorsed Mike Lapolla. Lapolla received further support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a rare pre-primary endorsement from the national body.[4]
A candidate debate on May 2 revealed few differences between the four contenders, who each favored Medicaid expansion, stricter gun control, and a right to abortion.[4]
Although Lapolla was considered a strong front-runner, he surprised observers with a sharp radio attack ad against Connelly, in which an actress plays Ms. Connelly as a contestant on a quiz show titled, ''Who Wants to Be a Member of Congress?'' In the ad, the Connelly character is questioned on her positions and requests a weather report so she can see ''which way the political winds are blowing.''[4] Connelly criticized the ad as sexist, and she received the endorsements of the National Organization for Women and EMILY's List.[4]
Filmmaker Michael Moore attempted to enter a ficus tree in the Republican primary against Frelinghuysen, but state election officials refused to certify its nominating petitions, forcing Moore to run a write-in campaign for the tree instead.[5]
Incumbent Democrat Rush Holt Jr. won re-election to a second term in office, defeating former Representative Dick Zimmer by under 700 votes.
In the Republican primary, Zimmer easily defeated his successor, one-term Representative Mike Pappas, who was seeking a return to Congress after losing the 1998 election to Holt.
Mike Pappas, former Representative for this district (1997–99)
Dick Zimmer, former Representative for this district (1991–97) and nominee for U.S. Senate in 1996
Declined
Leonard Lance, assemblyman and candidate for this district in 1996[6]
Campaign
Pappas, who lost his seat in embarrassing fashion after singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Kenneth Star" on the floor of the House in 1998, ran for the Republican nomination. He faced his predecessor Dick Zimmer, who had given up the seat to run for U.S. Senate in 1996.[6]
Pappas was positioned as a strong conservative, while Zimmer was noted for his moderate stances on social issues. Zimmer had the support of most of the Republican Party establishment in the state, including governors Christine Todd Whitman and Tom Kean, party chair Chuck Haytaian, and all five county Republican organizations in the district, and supporters argued that he would be more likely to unseat Holt in the general election.[6] Pappas had impassioned support from social conservatives, including opponents of abortion and gun control.[6]
The race was largely civil until May, when Zimmer began running radio advertisements with recordings of Zimmer singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Kenneth Starr" and Pappas sent out mailers accusing Zimmer of inspiring the state income tax during his time as head of Common Cause in the 1970s.[6] Zimmer's campaign was generally better funded and able to advertise, while Pappas relied on grassroots support and direct voter outreach.[6]
Bob Menendez, incumbent Representative from Union City since 1993
Withdrew
Esther Gatria, college student
Campaign
Esther Gatria, a college student with ties to Union City mayor and assemblyman Rudy Garcia, submitted petitions to challenge Menendez but withdrew after Menendez urged U.S. Attorney Robert J. Cleary to investigate her petition signatures for fraud. She later took a job in Garcia's office, but he resigned under scrutiny a few weeks later.[5]
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