Community Corner

Holt, Booker Collect Endorsements For U.S. Senate Bids

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt endorsed by top scientists while Booker picks up Union County pols.

Endorsements flew fast and furious on Tuesday as half of the Democratic hopefuls for U.S. Senate racked up support for their bids to become New Jersey’s junior Senator.

The intellectual wagons circled around the rocket scientist candidate for U.S. Senate Tuesday as 65 leading scientists – including seven Nobel laureates – endorsed U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) in his bid for the seat of the late Frank Lautenberg.

Former Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize laureate Steven Chu was joined by fellow Nobel Prize-winning scientists Philip W. Anderson, David Baltimore, Martin Chalfie, Burton Richter, Eric Wieschaus, and Frank Wilczek and dozens of others in signing an open letter to the scientific community, pledging support for Holt and encouraging others to follow suit.

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“We are proud to support Rush Holt – a teacher, physicist, and progressive who has built an outstanding record of accomplishment in his 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives – in his campaign for the United States Senate,” the letter reads. “Never before in our history have we needed more and had less scientific expertise in the United States Congress.”

Holt, a scientist and teacher, is locked in a battle for the Democratic nomination to run for Lautenberg’s Senate seat, along with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-34) and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who leads the pack by a wide margin. A special primary election is set for Aug. 13.

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The winner of the Democratic primary will square off against the winner of the GOP primary -- Steve Lonegan, tea party favorite and former mayor of Bogota, or Somerset physician Alieta Eck in an Oct. 13 special general election.

The letter praises Holt’s work as a longtime member of the House and as a leader who is “thoughtful, knowledgeable, skillful, and fearless.’’

“He thinks like a scientist, so he is skeptical of easy answers and never stops digging until he gets the truth,” the letter reads.

Booker also continued to add to a long list of political endorsements when 49 Union County Democrats sided with his candidacy.

The list of Booker supporters includes municipal and county pols, along with State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak who praised Bookers ability to forge consensus.

“Mayor Booker’s ability to bring people together to take on tough challenges has been central to the success he has had in Newark,” Lesniak said in a release. “It is this kind of leadership that Washington needs now – someone who knows how to deliver results, for our county and the entire state.” 


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