The congressman from the 7th District is Leonard Lance, a self-styled “Eisenhower Republican” elected in 2008 to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Mike Ferguson. Lance’s English-German ancestors have lived in Hunterdon County for 300 years, and he and his twin brother, James, grew up there in the small town of Glen Gardner. Politics is in Lance’s blood. His father, Wesley Lance, was a state senator and eventually rose to Senate president. The younger Lance went to Lehigh University in neighboring Pennsylvania, and then headed south to Vanderbilt University to go to law school. He returned to New Jersey to pursue a master’s degree from Princeton University. One of his early jobs was as Republican Gov. Thomas Kean’s assistant counsel for county and municipal matters. In 1990, he was elected to the New Jersey legislature, where he made a name for himself as a budget hawk and independent thinker. He opposed a spending plan by GOP Gov. Christie Whitman, a move that cost him the Budget Committee chairmanship. He was known by fellow legislators as a workhorse with a pragmatic streak. In many respects, he is a prototypical Northeastern Republican: fiscally conservative but socially moderate. He supports abortion rights and tends to favor bipartisanship over ideology, which has led political opponents further to the right to label him a “RINO” (Republican in Name Only). Read More

The congressman from the 7th District is Leonard Lance, a self-styled “Eisenhower Republican” elected in 2008 to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Mike Ferguson. Lance’s English-German ancestors have lived in Hunterdon County for 300 years, and he and his twin brother, James, grew up there in the small town of Glen Gardner. Politics is in Lance’s blood. His father, Wesley Lance, was a state senator and eventually rose to Senate president. The younger Lance went to Lehigh University in neighboring Pennsylvania, and then headed south to Vanderbilt University to go to law school. He returned to New Jersey to pursue a master’s degree from Princeton University. One of his early jobs was as Republican Gov. Thomas Kean’s assistant counsel for county and municipal matters. In 1990, he was elected to the New Jersey legislature, where he made a name for himself as a budget hawk and independent thinker. He opposed a spending plan by GOP Gov. Christie Whitman, a move that cost him the Budget Committee chairmanship. He was known by fellow legislators as a workhorse with a pragmatic streak. In many respects, he is a prototypical Northeastern Republican: fiscally conservative but socially moderate. He supports abortion rights and tends to favor bipartisanship over ideology, which has led political opponents further to the right to label him a “RINO” (Republican in Name Only).

In 2008, Ferguson, facing a rematch against Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Stender, who lost to him by just under 3,000 votes in 2006, did not seek re-election. Well-known in the district, Lance got into the primary race against six other candidates. He was the establishment Republicans’ pick, but he faced tough competition from Whitman’s daughter, Kate Whitman, who outraised him and questioned his fiscal bona fides. He was forced to spend nearly all of his funds early on, yet he won the primary by a surprisingly large margin, besting Whitman 39%-20%.

Drained by the primary, Lance started the general election campaign seriously outmatched by Stender, who ultimately outspent him 2-to-1. She criticized Lance for opposing her legislation to make it mandatory for pharmacies to fill prescriptions for birth control pills, including emergency contraception. Lance said he voted against the bill because he believed that mom-and-pop pharmacies should have the right to decide whether to fill such prescriptions. Both political parties pulled out all the stops for this seat. President George W. Bush stumped for Lance and helped him raise money. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton both came to the district to campaign for Stender. Lance got a boost from the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper, which called him “that rarest of birds, an old-fashioned, thrifty, genuinely moderate Republican.” Lance did better than expected, winning by 50%-42%.

Once in the House, he regularly showed his willingness to buck his party. He was one of just eight Republicans to support energy legislation that included a cap-and-trade program aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and one of just three to back the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act assisting victims of wage discrimination lawsuits. He also was the only freshman Republican to cosponsor a 2009 bill barring employers from discriminating against workers based on sexual orientation. He held firm against most of President Barack Obama’s economic agenda, voting against the stimulus bill even as he touted a flood control project in his district that was ready for stimulus money. A member of the Financial Services Committee, he castigated the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, saying he was especially troubled by its reliance on unused government bailout funds.

Lance’s moderate stances ensured him a GOP primary challenge in 2010, but he was able to defeat three tea party-inspired challengers with 56% after winning the support of local Republican organizations. He then faced Democrat Ed Potosnak, a former staffer for Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., and a former chemistry teacher. Potosnak, who is openly gay, criticized Lance’s opposition to repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy barring openly gay military service members. He also promised to help small businesses. But Lance outraised him by 4-to-1 and won easily, 59%-41%. For keeping the seat in GOP hands, he was rewarded with a plum spot on the Energy and Commerce Committee. But he is considered to be vulnerable to redistricting.