Damon Tyner

Democrats are having a tough time finding someone to challenge Rep. FrankLoBiondo
Although state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Dennis) still hasn’t formally decided whether to challenge Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-Ventnor) in the Second Congressional District, most Democrats assume he’s not going to make a run for it.

And with fewer than three weeks remaining to file a petition, no candidates have put their names forward.

“I’m unaware of anyone that has surfaced, and I’m disappointed about that because I think now is as good a time as any to pose a really credible challenge to making the seat a Democratic seat,” said Atlantic County Democratic insider Damon Tyner, a former candidate for state Assembly.

Democrats remain hopeful that a huge number of absentee ballots might help them win one more Assembly seat in the 2nd district, where Democrat James Whelan, the former Mayor of Atlantic City, defeated GOP Assemblyman Kirk Conover on Tuesday. Whelan's running mate, Damon Tyner, trails Republican incumbent Francis Blee by 2,271 votes. The Atlantic County Board of Elections will begin counting the absentee ballots at 2PM on Thursday. The Superintendent of Elections is still compiling the numbers of provisional ballots.

The unofficial absentee ballot breakdown:

Party Requested Returned

Democrat 2352 1655
Green 1 1
Independent 18 15
Republican 1019 896
Unaffiliated 2222 1283

Total: 5612 3850

The race for State Assembly in the 14th district is no longer the hotly contested campaign that political insiders had expected, with polling from both campaigns showing the two incumbents, Democrat Linda Greenstein and Republican Bill Baroni, with a comfortable lead. The traditional competitiveness of this Mercer/Middlesex district keeps Greenstein and Baroni in the Leans column, but now with a movement arrow towards Likely. Greenstein is running with Hamilton Councilman Dan Benson; Baroni's running mate is former South Brunswick Police Chief Michael Paquette.

In the second district, where Republican Assemblymen Frank Blee and Kirk Conover face a strong challenge from former Atlantic City Mayor James Whelan and attorney Damon Tyner, PoliticsNJ.com has added a movement arrow towards Toss Up for Conover.

PoliticsNJ.com Battle for New Jersey '05