Jersey New Jersey at a Glance State Profile - Gov. Whitman (R) - Sen. Lautenberg (D) - Sen. Torricelli (D) Presidential Politics Congressional Districting - 01 - Andrews (D) - 02 - LoBiondo (R) - 03 - Saxton (R) - 04 - Smith (R) - 05 - Roukema (R) - 06 - Pallone (D) - 07 - Franks (R) - 08 - Pascrell Jr. (D) - 09 - Rothman (D) - 10 - Payne (D) - 11 - Frelinghuysen (R) - 12 - Holt (D) - 13 - Menendez (D) Almanac 2000 Home States & Districts Elected Officials For district profiles and additional information on the elected officials of New Jersey, please use the pull-down menu above.

The transportation arteries beneath the curve of the First Watchung Mountain are one of New Jersey's historic lines of development. The rail lines of the late 19th Century opened up commuter suburbs; in the 1940s the four lanes of U.S. 22 created an automobile civilization; and finally Interstate 78, completed in the mid-1980s, put Newark only an hour's distance from the Pennsylvania line. I-78 stimulated the development of an Edge City called Bridgewater Commons, where a huge shopping mall and office developments that included the new headquarters of AT&T rose up amid horse country around Far Hills and Bernardsville, where the likes of Malcolm Forbes and Charles Engelhard owned huge estates.

The 7th Congressional District covers these several generations of suburban development. It begins just west of Elizabeth, taking in affluent railroad commuter towns like Short Hills and Summit. It also includes more modest suburbs along U.S. 22, like Union and Westfield and the old city of Plainfield, with its large black community, plus the working class suburbs of Woodbridge and South Plainfield in Middlesex County. It then follows I-78 and the Watchung Mountains far into the countryside to the fields of Somerset County. Once this was all solidly Republican; now the closer-in suburbs are more mixed, with Democratic inner cities; the farther-out Edge City areas are, if anything, increasingly Republican. In the House, this area has been represented by Republicans for many years.

The congressman from the 7th is Bob Franks, a Republican first elected in 1992. He grew up in New Jersey, went to DePauw University and earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University, worked as a political consultant, then in 1979, at 28, was elected to the New Jersey Assembly from a district including parts of all four counties now in the 7th. He served as state Republican chairman for all but one year from 1988-92 and was one of the leaders of the revolt against Governor Jim Florio's 1990 tax increase. And he was a political ally of Matthew Rinaldo, the 7th District congressman for 20 years, who had a liberal voting record and a high-ranking spot on the Commerce Committee. When Rinaldo abruptly dropped out of the race in September 1992, after being renominated three months before, the local Republican organization chose Franks to take his place. Franks had serious competition from Democrat Leonard Sendelsky, a well-known local builder active in civic organizations. The two ran even in Middlesex, while Franks won 55% in the rest of the district, for a 53%-43% win.

In the House, Franks has a moderate record on economic and foreign issues and a rather liberal record on cultural issues. He serves on the Budget Committee and on Transportation and Infrastructure, where much of his work has a local angle. After the big pipeline explosion in Edison in March 1994 he worked on pipeline safety; after dredging for the port of New York and New Jersey was stopped because the waste could not be dumped in the ocean, he got a bill passed in October 1996 authorizing and financing an alternative disposal site; after complaints from those under the flight paths to Newark Airport, he proposed creating an FAA ombudsman on airplane noise. After Susan Molinari resigned in mid-term, Franks in 1998 became chairman of the Railroads subcommittee, a useful post for his district. But when the Transportation Committee in 1999 was forced to reorganize and drop a subcommittee, he took over a catch-all panel whose hazardous materials and pipeline jurisdiction could also prove useful for his industrial region. Franks has some interesting causes too. He wants to stop the unrestricted sale of personal information about children by commercial list brokers. He wants a bipartisan commission on campaign finance reform to recommend a package of reform, with Congress getting an up or down vote. He wants the government to stop subsidizing electric power produced by the Tennessee Valley Authority and transmitted by the Power Marketing Administrations.

Franks had his closest race in 1998 against Fanwood Mayor Maryanne Connelly, a retired AT&T human resources executive. Although outspent more than 4-to-1 and receiving little national support, Connelly was a capable foe, and carried the Middlesex County portion of the district. Overall Franks won 53%-44%, a decisive margin but one which may invite more well-financed opposition. Franks has been mentioned as a candidate for governor in 2001, presuming he is re-elected in 2000. But if Governor Christie Whitman is elected to the Senate in 2000, Senate President Donald DiFrancesco will become acting governor, and Franks may not want to challenge an incumbent in the primary.

Cook's Call:
Potentially Competitive. Franks' unexpectedly close race against an underfunded candidate in 1998 has earned him a place on the watch list for 2000. Franks has never won in this swing district with big margins, but he has survived a well-financed challenger and some particularly bad political climates.

Update: July 14, 2000
After New Jersey Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman dropped out of the Senate race, Representative Bob Franks decided to seek the nomination. Even with a large margin of victory in his home Union County and the rest of the 7th District, Franks barely eked out a victory with 36% in a four-way primary, just two percentage points ahead of state Senator William Gormley.

The race to succeed Franks was also crowded. Although he won here four times, the district now has 21,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, as evidenced by the fact that Fanwood Mayor Maryanne Connelly held Franks to a 53%-44% victory in 1998 despite being outspent 4-1. The Republican primary was a four-way contest pitting state Assembly member Joel Weingarten against district-switcher Michael Ferguson (who badly lost a 1998 challenge to Democrat Frank Pallone in the adjacent 6th District), former House Commerce Committee staffer Patrick Morrissey, and Tom Kean Jr., the son of the popular former Republican governor.

Early Republican polls gave Kean the advantage in name recognition, but he failed to win the endorsements of any of the local party organizations. Although his liberal-leaning positions on abortion rights and gun control could have given him an advantage here in the general, Kean--who was working on a doctorate in international relations in Boston before moving into the district to run--at times appeared nervous on the stump and his candidacy failed to gain momentum. Weingarten, the only candidate who had been elected to public office, sought to portray his opponents as inexperienced. Ferguson, a teacher at Brookdale College and an education consultant, focused on fiscal issues such as tax reform, tax cuts and reducing the national debt. Morrissey campaigned on expanding federal health services (he was legal counsel on health issues for the Commerce Committee) and hoped that Weingarten and Ferguson would split the conservative vote.

Ferguson raised the most money--more than $800,000--and had the most votes, receiving 41% and winning Middlesex and Sommerset counties. Kean was second with 28%, winning Union County; Weingarten was third with 23%; and Morrissey was last with 9%.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a rare move, endorsed Union County Administrator Mike LaPolla over Connelly, who again sought the nomination. Abandoned by party leaders despite showing unexpected strength in 1998, an angry Connelly chose to run against the endorsed candidate.

LaPolla was considered to be leading the race when he aired a radio ad that depicted Connelly as dumb and indecisive. Connelly charged that it was sexist, and the backlash won her the support of the National Organization for Women and Emily's List. The ad proved to be a horrible blunder by LaPolla, and he lost by less than 240 votes as Connelly received 45.3% to his 44.6%.

Ferguson favors school vouchers and opposes abortion rights, but differs with many in his party by supporting universal registration and licensing of all guns. Connelly, in contrast, opposes school vouchers, supports abortion rights and opposes the privatization of social security. The November contest is considered a toss up and will be crucial in determining which party gains control of the House.

The People:

• Pop. 1990: 594,844
• 4.1% rural; 14.4% age 65+;
• 83.6% White, 10.1% Black, 4.6% Asian, 0.1% Amer. Indian, 4.8% Hispanic origin; 1.5% Other.
• Households: 62.6% married couple families; 27.5% married couple fams. w. children; 52.7% college educ.; median household income: $50,996; per capita income: $23,253; median gross rent: $632; median house value: $186,900.

1996 Presidential Vote Clinton (D) 129,773 (51%) Dole (R) 101,538 (40%) Perot (I) 19,769 (8%)

1992 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 125,592 (44%) Clinton (D) 115,846 (41%) Perot (I) 40,690 (14%)