C’mon, New Jersey! You Can Make a Difference!

There’s a special election in New Jersey next week which could have a profound effect on America’s future. 

Last night Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, posted an urgent message to citizens of the Garden State to get out and vote for Republican Steve Lonegan, who is facing off against Newark mayor Cory Booker for the Senate seat vacated by Frank Lautenberg, who died in June.

Professor George wrote:

Next Wednesday–October 16–will be the special election to choose the next United States Senator from New Jersey.  Liberal Democrat Cory Booker is facing conservative Republican Steve Lonegan.  I want to encourage all my New Jersey Facebook friends … to do your civic duty and get to your polling place that day!  Not long ago, Booker was regarded as unbeatable. Recently, however, the bloom has come off the rose.  The Newark mayor still leads in the polls, but Lonegan is within striking distance.  An upset in as deep blue a state as New Jersey would be of considerable national significance.  So don’t forget to vote!

Not being from New Jersey myself, I’m afraid I was woefully uninformed regarding local issues in that state; but I was eager to help Robbie George spread the word, so I invited him to send a guest post for this blog.  He did—He forwarded to me a succinct explanation of the issues which divide the candidates, and I invite you to reflect, too, on the critical difference between the liberal Democrat, Cory Booker, and the pro-life Republican, Steve Lonegan.

“The contrast,” Professor George explained,

“…between New Jersey Senate Candidates Cory Booker and Steve Lonegan could not be sharper.

Booker is not only a liberal, but someone on the left edge of the Democratic Party. He is, for example, vehemently opposed to any meaningful protections for unborn children, supporting abortion at any stage of fetal development up to the point of birth, and wanting abortion to be funded by taxpayers. Similarly, he is a fervent supporter of redefining marriage to include same-sex partners. In fact, he favors the use of federal power to impose “same-sex marriage” on all fifty states.

Lonegan is a social as well as an economic conservative. He believes in limited government, reasonable and responsible regulation, restrained spending and low taxes. He is also strongly pro-life and supports the traditional definition of marriage as the union of husband and wife.

To me, the choice is clear: I support Lonegan.”

It is a tough race: 

Fox News has called Cory Booker, the charismatic former mayor of Newark, a “Democratic darling” who is likely to win the Senate seat.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Cory Booker leading by 12 points; and Lonegan’s own internal polls claim that the challenger is within three points of the highly visible Booker.

Yet U.S. News and World Report, in an October 7 opinion piece by Brian Walsh, noted that:

“It should not be overlooked that despite New Jersey’s Democratic tilt, Lonegan has been gaining in the polls by campaigning tirelessly as a principled conservative.  A former state director for the conservative Americans for Prosperity, Lonegan supports defunding and repealing Obamacare, freezing spending, protecting the Second Amendment and defending the sanctity of life.”

New Jersey readers:  You can win this.  Get out there and vote!  And bring your friends!