By Jamie Lynn Connors
A woman should occupy New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District seat.
That’s pretty much where the agreements end between Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and GOP challenger Rosemary Becchi.
They have pulled no punches in a contest that marks only the fifth time in New Jersey history that congressional candidates from both major parties have been women.
In her first race two years ago, Sherrill received nearly 57 percent of the votes to win the 11th District, which covers parts of Morris, Essex, Passaic and Sussex counties. The former federal prosecutor and Navy helicopter pilot became the first Democrat to represent the district in 34 years.
Chalk that up to the “Trump Effect,” said Krista Jenkins, a Fairleigh Dickinson University professor of politics and government and director of the FDU Poll. “New Jersey is not a state that’s shown much love for Trump.”
Now, Sherrill will be tough to beat, according to Jenkins, and not just because the Democrat has raised about five times more money than her opponent.
“Once somebody becomes a sitting member of Congress, they basically benefit from the glow of being an incumbent,” Jenkins said. “It becomes really difficult to knock people off their seat in the absence of… some kind of unfortunate event that would potentially torpedo their reelection chances.”
The conservative Becchi has aimed her torpedoes at Sherrill’s party, trying to align the incumbent with the “violent and radical” policies of House Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, both from Sherrill’s freshman class on Capitol Hill.
“Mikie Sherrill should be ashamed,” chides a TV commercial by Becchi, a tax lawyer and former tax counsel for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, who initially planned to run in the 7th District.
Becchi’s campaign created a website to “set the record straight” about Sherrill, contending: “After countless speaking engagements and two debates, it’s clear she doesn’t plan on being honest with voters in NJ-11.”
The Republican from Short Hills is a 48-year-old mother of three who says she will fight for families, for reopening the pandemic-stifled economy, and for “lower taxes and less regulation.”
“Lower taxes for your corporate clients,” shot back Sherrill during an online debate. She accused Becchi of lobbying to help Exxon Mobil dodge environmental regulations, and of supporting a 2017 tax bill that capped state and local property tax deductions at $10,000.
The congresswoman from Montclair created “12 Days of SALT” on the House Floor last December, to call for removal of the federal cap on State and Local Tax deductions.
Sherrill says Becchi’s pro-NRA and anti-Planned Parenthood stances also are out of step with the District.
“She’s continued throughout her career to lobby against the regulations that keep New Jersey families safe,” Sherrill, a 48-year-old mother of four, said in another virtual debate. “I’ve, quite frankly, spent my entire career serving the people of this county and of New Jersey.”
The candidates also differ sharply over whether to grant police “qualified immunity” from misconduct lawsuits. Sherrill wants to revoke such protection, a position that cost her the endorsement of the state Policemen’s Benevolent Association.
“When you have great responsibility, life and death responsibility…you also have a great deal of accountability,” said Sherrill, who has raised $5 million compared to Becchi’s $1 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Becchi’s campaign hit a rough patch earlier this month when she complained to the employer of David Steketee, accusing the 43-year-old Madison resident of “stalking” her after he left a series of comments on her campaign’s Facebook page.
A similar move backfired against former Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) in 2017, when he outed a woman’s political activism to her boss in a fundraising letter.
Frelinghuysen, a 12-term congressman whose moderate views grew increasingly hard-line under Trump, opted to retire rather than face Sherrill, his first serious competition.
“There is a point at which we as a campaign felt uncomfortable and threatened by (Steketee’s) actions and we reached out to his employer in order to protect our staff and their families,” Becchi Campaign Manager Audrey Lane said in a statement.
According to Politico, Steketee’s comments are “often based on policy and rarely veer into insults, and when they do they tend to be tame.”
Steketee is best known in Greater Morristown for leading a successful drive by atheists to end Morris County historic preservation grants to churches.
Kevin Coughlin contributed to this report.
