Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ11) has decided not to run for Congress again, and Democrats and Republicans are stepping up to be his successor in the 11th Congressional district, which includes Verona. The Morris Township Democratic Committee will host a forum featuring four Democratic candidates on Thursday, February 22.
The candidates who are participating are Mitchell Cobert, Tamara Harris, Mikie Sherrill and Mark Washburne.
As a Morristown resident, Cobert has prosecuted securities fraud and represented victims of Wall Street crimes. As president of the Morris County Bar Association, he helped to establish the Drug Court that enables people with minor drug offenses work to clear their records. Harris, who lives in Verona’s Claridge condo complex, is a family advocate who is also an adjunct lecturer at Montclair State University and New York University. She has held leadership and advisory positions with the United Negro College Fund, New Jersey Advocates for Education, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Essex, Hudson, and Union County.
Sherrill, who was the first to step up to challenge Frelinghuysen last year, is a Naval Academy graduate who spent almost 10 years on active duty as a Sea King Helicopter pilot. She later earned a law degree from Georgetown University and worked as a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. Washburne has been a professor of history and political science in the Morris County area for 25 years and is the author of a seven-volume biography on Illinois Civil War Congressman Elihu Washburne.
The forum will be held at the Alfred Vail School Auditorium, 125 Speedwell Avenue, in Morris Plains from 7 to 9 p.m. The organizers are asking for RSVPs by February 20 to [email protected].
State Assemblyman Jay Webber, who represents the 26th state legislative district that includes Verona, is the only declared Republic candidate for the federal district seat so far. The other legislators for the 26th, state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Assemblyman BettyLou DeCroce, have both said they will not run, as has former Jets center Nick Mangold. Webber has been endorsed by Verona’s deputy mayor, Michael Nochimson.
