Former Congressman Dick Zimmer — surrounded by members of his family and his wife, Marfy Goodspeed — concedes the race for U.S. Senate to incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg.
Photo by Debra Rubin
Results of other key NJ races
U.S. Congress
District 5: U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R) was re-elected to a fourth term, defeating Democrat Dennis Shulman, a blind rabbi and psychologist, by a 57-42 percent margin.
District 4: Republican incumbent Chris Smith handily defeated Democratic challenger Josh Zeitz.
District 3: State Sen. John H. Adler (D), defeated Chris Myers, the mayor of Medford and will replace Rep. Jim Saxton (R), who is retiring.
District 11: Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen won his eighth term by winning a rematch with Democrat Tom Wyka.
November 5, 2008
Most of the Republican crowd that gathered at the Somerville Elks in Bridgewater on Nov. 4 hardly noticed the televised announcements that declared Barack Obama president.
They were too busy cheering as state Sen. Leonard Lance gave his victory speech after defeating Assemblywoman Linda Stender to take over the Seventh District congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Michael Ferguson.
Lance’s speech, which came near midnight, was one of the few bright spots for the Republicans, who earlier had applauded as former Congressman Dick Zimmer gave his concession speech after losing his bid to unseat Democrat Frank Lautenberg for the U.S. Senate.
For most of the evening, the somewhat subdued crowd ate, laughed, and shmoozed as screens broadcast Fox News and New Jersey News 12. After Pennsylvania became the first of the key battleground state to go for Obama, interest seemed to wane.
One woman identified herself as a staunch Republican who gladly cast ballots for Zimmer and Lance but couldn’t bring herself to vote for John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin.
Lowering her voice, she said, “I voted for Obama.”
Zimmer, in making his concession speech, said he thought McCain would run a closer race in New Jersey, but the financial crisis proved his undoing. He stressed, however, that he did not blame McCain for his own loss.
Brian Levine, mayor of Franklin in Somerset County, said he chose to look at the outcome from a positive perspective.
“We’re all Americans,” he said. “We all have the same feelings, desires and concerns about the economy. We all want a good educational system. We want the new president to be a good friend to Israel.”
Michael Kalafer of Somerset continued to express doubts about Obama.
“I think our country is in dire straits and I’m not talking about the United States of America,” said Kalafer, meaning Israel.
Kalafer said he didn’t know if he could believe what he heard about Obama’s support for Israel, while the Republicans, he said, have been very supportive of Israel in recent years.
“I think many Americans just wanted to be a part of history in this election of 2008, but I think [Obama] falls short on the needs of our country.”
Zimmer’s sister, Ilene Hyman of Franklin, said she was disappointed that there wasn’t more support within the Jewish community for her brother and other Republican candidates, but understood the motivation behind their choices.
“They’re both good candidates,” she said of McCain and Obama. “But, with the fall of the stock market and economy, people wanted to put in a new party.”
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