New Jersey’s 6th and 12th Districts are in Play

New Jersey’s 6th and 12th Districts are in Play In New Jersey, two congressional districts represented by Democratic incumbents, the 6th and 12th, are not yet on most political handicapper’s radar screens, but they probably should be.

In the 12th District, Democratic Rep. Rush Holt has served as representative in Congress since 1999. The 12th District stretches across the state from Seabright on the coast to Pennsylvania. It includes parts of Democratic strongholds like East Brunswick, Princeton and parts of North Trenton. It also includes parts of? Republican-heavy areas like Hunterdon County.

GovTrack.com gives Rep. Holt a “far-left Democrat” rating. He has voted with congressional leadership 98.2 percent of the time, and voted “yes” on some of the past two year's most divisive legislative initiatives – particularly health care reform and cap-and-trade, a number of key provisions of which his office proudly claims to have written.

The last time Holt faced a serious challenge was in 2000 by former congressman and Senate candidate Dick Zimmer. Holt won that election by less than 500 votes. Since 2000, however, Holt has been able to garner close to or over 60 percent of the vote in every reelection campaign he has waged. His challenger this year is former Morgan Stanley Managing Director Scott Sipprelle. Sipprelle has received several key endorsements, including the of the Trenton city council president Geroge Muschal (the rest of the city council endorsed Holt) and New Jersey Governor Christ Christie, who hosted a fundraiser for the Sipprelle on September 24th. Rider University will host a debate between these two candidates on October 14th.