Representatives -- Blog #1

The two senators from my home state of New Jersey are Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, both Democrats, while the Congressional representative from my home town of Short Hills is Leonard Lance, a Republican.

Lance has served in the US House since 2002, and before that, he served in the NJ Senate (from 2004-2008) and in the NJ General Assembly (from 1991-2002).  While in the NJ General Assembly, Lance chaired the Budget Committee and led the fight to have NJ voters approve government borrowing, which resulted in passage of the “Lance Amendment” to the NJ State Constitution in 2008.  Lance’s  primary work in Congress is currently as a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, where he focuses on federal environmental, commerce and consumer protection issues, among others.

Menendez has served in the US Senate since 2006, and became Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2013.  His most significant accomplishments as Senator include: 1) leading the fight in Congress to make sure that NJ residents received ample federal aid to rebuild their homes and communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, and 2) sponsoring legislation in support of a strong national security posture.  Menendez has also been a strong human rights advocate for those oppressed by the authoritarian governments in Iran, Cuba, Syria, Russia and China.  Prior to his service in the US Senate, Menendez served in the US House (from 1992-2005), in the NJ State Senate (from 1991-1992) and as Mayor of Union City, NJ (from 1986-1990).

Booker was first elected to the US Senate in 2013 in a special election following the death of then sitting senator, Frank Lautenberg.  Booker’s  primaryassignments in the Senate currently include membership on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.  Prior to his service in the US Senate, Booker served as Mayor of Newark, NJ, where the main focuses of his administration included crime prevention and rebuilding the city’s infrastructure.

In recent years, NJ’s population has grown increasingly diverse, with the result that it is now commonly referred to as a “blue” or Democratic-leaning state.  However, it still clearly has a number of “red” or Republican-leaning sections so some continue to see NJ as a “purple” or neutral state on the political spectrum.  In contrast, the 7th Congressional district of NJ represented by Lance consists of mostly white voters with relatively high income and educational levels who have propelled Lance to relatively easy victories in the last couple of elections.

As a general matter, all of NJ’s above representatives seem to be effectively representing the interests of their constituents, but from time to time there have unsurprisingly been some points of contention.  For example, various opinion polls indicate that Menendez’ declared opposition to the pending nuclear agreement with Iran and Lance’s past opposition to the Affordable Care Act do not enjoy universal support at home.

As Lance has declared his candidacy for re-election to NJ's 7th district in 2016, he is now hard at work campaigning and fundraising in NJ.  On the other hand, Menendez, who is not up for re-election again until 2018, and Booker, who is not up for re-election again until 2020 (because of the six year terms that senators enjoy) will have the luxury of refocusing their efforts on substantive legislative matters like the Iran deal and the budget when they return to Washington once the summer recess concludes (next week).