Christopher Myers

Democrats have picked up a Republican House seat in New Jersey's third district, with State Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) defeating Medford Mayor Christopher Myers.  The incumbent, Republican Jim Saxton, is retiring after 24 years in Congress.  Democrats have not won this seat since 1882.

The 3rd district congressional race between Democrat John Adler and Republican Christopher Myers is a statistical dead heat, according to a Zogby International poll conducted by The Press of Atlantic City and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  More than 16% of the voters poll remain undecided, with each candidate at 39%.   Adler, a State Senator from Camden County, and Myers, the Mayor of Medford, are seeking the seat of Republican Jim Saxton, who is retiring after 24 years in the House.  Republicans have held this seat since 1884.

Third district voters are also split on races for President and U.S. Senate: Barack Obama, 45%, John McCain, 44%; and Dick Zimmer, 45%, Frank Lautenberg 44%.

The 3rd district congressional race between Democrat John Adler and Republican Christopher Myers is a statistical dead heat, according to a Zogby International poll conducted by The Press of Atlantic City and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  More than 16% of the voters poll remain undecided, with each candidate at 39%.   Adler, a State Senator from Camden County, and Myers, the Mayor of Medford, are seeking the seat of Republican Jim Saxton, who is retiring after 24 years in the House.  Republicans have held this seat since 1884.

Third district voters are also split on races for President and U.S. Senate: Barack Obama, 45%, John McCain, 44%; and Dick Zimmer, 45%, Frank Lautenberg 44%.

This week's Winners & Losers: Click Here

Medford Mayor Chris Myers last night in Mount Holly debate: Politicker photoThe news tonight that President George W. Bush plans to headline a Colts Neck fundraiser on Monday for Republican Congressional candidates, state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) and Medford Mayor Chris Myers, created an easy opening for the Democrats.

Bush has a 15 percent job approval rating in New Jersey, according to Strategic Vision.

Only too happy to exploit the president’s toxicity here, Mark Warren, spokesman for state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden), Democratic candidate in the 3rd Congressional district, criticized Republican adversary Myers for allowing Bush to come in and raise money for him.State Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) last night in the Veterans for Education debate in Mount Holly: Politicker photo

Still, he said the news didn’t catch him off guard. In the most recent fundraising reports, the Republican candidates trailed their counterparts by wide margins.

"It’s no surprise at all," said Warren. "Mayor Myers has been getting his campaign playbook from George W. Bush and Karl Rove. The principle point of Mayor Myers’s energy policy is extensive tax breaks for big oil companies.

One of the reasons Burlington County Republicans picked Christopher Myers, the relatively obscure Mayor of Medford, to succeed Jim Saxton in Congress was his ability to raise money.  When the Lockheed-Martin Vice President entered the race, the buzz among GOP insiders was that he had the ability to compete with State Sen. John Adler in the fundraising department.  Adler has raised $1.9 million in a district where Democrats haven’t won since 1882, and Myers, after a tough primary, has just a little more than $150K on hand.

One of the legendary scams in Bergen County politics came in 1984, when Republicans were considering candidates to take on newly-elected Democratic Congressman Robert Torricelli. Torricelli had won the seat two years earlier, when he ousted three-term GOP incumbent Harold Hollenbeck by a 53%-46% margin. The political climate in 1982 (and congressional redistricting in the 9th) favored Democrats and Torricelli leveraged the national contacts he made working for Vice President Walter Mondale and running Jimmy Carter's 1980 re-election campaign in Illinois to help him raise $266,000 -- about $70,000 more than Hollenbeck had.

It’s not often a congressional seat opens up in New Jersey – so you would think that all editorial eyes would be focused on any and all campaign story angles in the open districts – especially the hometown dailies. 

So when the 3rd District (Burlington-Ocean-Camden) campaigns closed their fundraising books for the 2nd quarter and candidates started reporting cash-on-hand, it should have made some news.

Show us the money!

With only $155,000 on hand, Medford Mayor Christopher Myers, is facing the most well-funded open seat challenger in the country: State Sen. John Adler, who has amassed a $1.9 war chest. 

But a potentially huge pool of cash looms on the horizon for Myers.  According to the latest Federal Election Commission filings, Jim Saxton, the retiring 12-term Republican incumbent, has a war chest of a little over $1 million.

Will Saxton help Myers, his protégé and close friend, level the playing field in a district the GOP has held since 1884?

Dennis Shulman, a blind Rabbi and psychologist challenging Rep. Scott Garrett in the fifth district, has raised $585,000 and has $258,000 remaining in his warchest – more  than $100K more than Christopher Myers, the GOP congressional candidate in the third district.  Myers, who faces Democrat John Adler for the seat of retiring Rep. Jim Saxton,has raised $626,549 and has $155,406 cash on hand.  Shulman and Myers each won contested primaries.

John Adler has raised nearly $2 million so far in his bid to win election to the U.S. House of Representatives. His GOP rival, Medford Mayor Christopher Myers, is not expected to exceed $500,000 when he files his second quarter report this month.  That's a huge advantage for Adler, who seeks to become the first Democrat to win this House seat since Thomas Ferrell in 1882.