November's ballots may have 26 third-party and independent candidates running for Congress in New Jersey, at least one in each of the 13 districts.
It's possible that challenges may be filed to some of their nominating petitions, which must have 100 valid signatures from registered and eligible voters to qualify a candidate for the ballot. Nine of the 26 petitions had 116 signatures or less, which could leave them vulnerable.
The most crowded third-party fields filed in South Jersey. But the best of the 11 candidates with slogans, which are allowed to be up to three words long, came in North Jersey's 13th District, where Maximo Gomez Nacer is running under the banner: "Gravity Buoyancy Solution." There are four Green Party candidates, three Libertarian Party candidates, two candidates running with the word 'change' in their slogan and two dueling tea flavors -- one regular NJ Tea Party slogan, and one running under the Green Tea Patriots banner. And then there's one candidate whose slogan is a website ... that wasn't working.
Below's a recap of who's running (not including the Democrats or Republicans) and their party affiliation or slogan. The number following each shows their petition signatures.
1st District
- Margaret M. Chapman of Berlin (108), "Time For Change"
- Mark Heacock of Woodlynne (119), Green Party
- Nicky I. Petrutz of Somerdale (183), "Defend American Constitution"
2nd District
- Peter F. Boyce of Millville (145), Constitution Party
- Mark Lovett of Ventnor (115), MarkLovett.us
- Victor Valdes-Munoz of Vineland (113), American Labor Party
- Christopher Weber of Elmer (109), Independent
3rd District
- Russ Conger of Little Egg Harbor (130), Libertarian Party
- Peter DeStefano of Mount Laurel (237), NJ Tea Party
- Lawrence J. Donahue of Moorestown (106), "Your Country Again"
4th District
- David Meiswinkle of East Windsor (252), "American Renaissance Movement"
- Joe Siano of Burlington (195), Libertarian Party
- Steven Welzer of East Windsor (181), Green Party
5th District
- Ed Fanning of Dumont (191), Green Party
- James Douglas Radigan of Andover (136), "Be Determined"
6th District
- Jack Freudenheim of Plainfield (116), Independent
- Karen Anne Zaletel of Oceanport (208), "Green Tea Patriots"
7th District
- Adam Kuczynski of Linden (124), "Jobs Transparency Security"
8th District
- Raymond Giangrasso of Bloomfield (110), Independent
9th District
- Patricia Alessandrini of Teaneck (178), Green Party
10th District
- Joanne Miller of Newark (172), "Agent of Change"
- Robert Louis Toussaint of Maplewood (247), "Action No Talk"
11th District
- Jim Gawron of Flanders (116), Libertarian Party
12th District
- Kenneth J. Cody of Princeton (123), "Truth Vision Hope"
13th District
- Maximo Gomez Nacer of Union City (454), "Gravity Buoyancy Solution"
- Anthony Zanowic of Bayonne (104), "Independent American"
