Dean Gallo

Joseph Minish, who passed away on Saturday at age 91, may be one of the top vote-getters in Essex County history.  He won eleven races for Congress without ever falling below 58% in a district that was potentially competitive for Republicans. 

When Minish first won in 1962, the eleventh district included the Central and West Wards of Newark and suburban (sometimes Republican-leaning) Essex town.  By 1972, Newark was entirely out of his district, and his district included working class (and politically competitive) towns like Belleville, Bloomfield, West Orange, Montclair Hillside, North Arlington and Little Falls, Republican strongholds like the Maplewood and the Caldwells.

Republican presidential candidates carried the eleventh district in four successive elections: Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter by a 50%-40% margin in 1980, Gerald Ford carried it 54%-46% in 1976, Richard Nixon won it 60%-40% over George McGovern in 1972 and by 166 votes over Hubert Humphrey in 1968.  But Reagan, Ford and Nixon had no coattails for Minish’s GOP opponents.

Chatter about a conservative primary challenge to Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen is nothing new. In late 2001, attorney Paul Castronovo, who had been Morris County Coordinator for Bret Schundler's gubernatorial campaign, publicly explored a race, but eventually backed down. So far, the only Frelinghuysen opponent to get any real attention was in 2000, when Michael Moore held a news conference in Morris County to announce that he was running a Ficus plant as a write-candidate in the GOP primary.

Morris County Republicans traditionally don't hold grudges, which might make it a little easier for Jay Webber as he embarks on a bid to win a State Assembly seat in the 26th district. If he wins, Webber -- who ran a strong race for State Senate against Robert Martin in 2003 -- would join a long list of public officials who won after taking on incumbents in a GOP primary.

Rodney Frelinghuysen challenged Republican incumbent James Courter in the 1982 congressional primary and then won a State Assembly seat in 1983 after ousting Republican Assemblyman William Bishop in the primary.

Joseph Pennacchio, who is the heavy favorite to succeed Martin in the Senate next year, launched his political career by running against Congressman Dean Gallo in the 1984 primary. That was a particularly nasty race, especially since Gallo -- unbeknownst to Pennacchio -- was suffering from cancer. Pennacchio went on to win races for Freeholder and State Assembly.

Michael Patrick Carrolll took on Frelinghuysen and incumbent Arthur Albohn in a 1993 primary for State Assembly before winning the seat in 1995. Rick Merkt ran against incumbent Anthony Bucco in 1995 and won the seat in 1997. John Inglesino ran against Carroll in 1997 and later won a seat on the Morris County Board of Freeholders.