NJ primary election 2022: 8th Congressional District candidates – NorthJersey.com
The announcement by Albio Sires late last year that he’s retiring from Congress didn’t present much chance of a contest for his seat in the nation’s capitol. At the same time he declared the end of his political career, he endorsed the beginning of someone else’s: Robert Menendez Jr., son of New Jersey’s senior U.S. Senator.
Prominent Democrats and influential unions soon threw their support behind the younger Menendez, who goes by Rob, making him the clear front-runner in the heavily Democratic 8th Congressional District. The seemingly orchestrated hand-off from Sires to Menendez drew criticism that it smacked of nepotism and all but ensured the Menendez family would strengthen its power in Hudson County.
NJ 8th Congressional District candidates
Democrats
Robert Menendez Jr. has not held public office before but flirted with the idea of running in his hometown of Jersey City before announcing his candidacy for the 8th District. He is a lawyer at Lowenstein Sandler and a commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
David Ocampo-Grajales is the son of Columbian immigrants and lives in Jersey City. He was most recently director at a company that helped hospitals and universities create accountability for environmental compliance and ensure the safety of workers, patients, and students, his campaign said.
Ane Roseborough-Eberhard is a history teacher at Weehawken High School. She also serves on New Jersey’s Amistad Commission, which contributes to educational programs about the African slave trade and slavery in America.
NJ primaries:What you need to know to vote in the 2022 primary election
Republican
Marcos Arroyo is reportedly a housing inspector in West New York. He could not be reached for comment.
District makeup
The 8th District is comprised of parts of Essex, Hudson and Union counties and stretches across New Jersey’s largest cities: Elizabeth and parts of Newark and Jersey City. It is 51% Hispanic and strongly leans Democratic, with more than 216,000 registered Democrats compared to 41,825 Republicans, according to the Secretary of State’s office. There were 132,965 unaffiliated voters as of May 1, according to the office.
Top issues
Expanding education access; reproductive rights; fighting climate change; investing in affordable housing; public transportation; recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Money raised
Menendez raised nearly $1.1 million and spent $639,995 in the first five months of the year, Federal Election Commission records show. Ocampo Grajales raised $37,433 and spent $30,798 in that same timeframe, according to commission records. The commission had no financial data for Roseborough-Eberhard.
Priorities
Menendez said he would focus on affordability in Congress, particularly increasing affordable housing stock “with a nexus to public transportation.” He’d try to bring down the cost of child care by supporting legislation expanding and extending the Child Tax Credit, capping child care costs at 7% of income for many families and providing universal preschool.
Other priorities for Menendez include codifying the right to abortion into law and preserving access to birth control and supporting gun safety measures, including a federal ban on assault weapons, requiring universal background checks and closing gun-purchasing loopholes.
Ocampo Grahales said he supports the so-called Green New Deal because climate change is an “existential threat.” He would prioritize investing in new affordable housing and repairing existing housing, and wants to extend the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line into Bergen County to relieve traffic and expand public transportation. He also supports Medicare for All.
Roseborough-Eberhard said she’d be committed to “keeping our communities green and clean,” wants to create a Secretary of Culture and would try to make post-high school education free.
In their words
Menendez: “Our nation is grappling with unchecked gun violence as well the impact of the Supreme Court’s likely decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, while our district continues to struggle with affordability, access to child care, and the ongoing assault on organized labor.
I’m running for Congress to solve these issues and create solutions that will provide immediate relief to the residents of the 8th Congressional District. Because to me, they aren’t just voters — they are my family, my neighbors, my teachers, the people who have shaped me into the person I am today, and I am ready to fight for them with everything I have each and every day.”
Ocampo Grajales: “My Dad is a truck driver. My Mom cleaned houses for a long time. I’m running for Congress because, like my parents, people across the district are working hard to make ends meet, but every year it gets harder. Rent goes up while income stays the same. Health insurance gets more expensive, but always covers less. The floods get worse while fossil fuel companies report profits and price gouge at the pump. The residents of NJ-08 deserve a representative who works as hard as they do. They deserve a champion who is fighting for them, not corporate interests.”
Roseborough-Eberhard: “I believe in America and what this country stands for in terms of opportunity. A democracy can never be taken for granted. The systems that are put in place are here to protect us and ensure that our voices are heard. Growing up on Army bases and living in various countries has shaped my ideas on what being an American means to the world. While we are not a perfect society, we are dynamic and by working together we can continue to be the example of what acceptance, diversity and belief in basic freedoms can accomplish.”
Dustin Racioppi is a reporter in the New Jersey Statehouse. For unlimited access to his work covering New Jersey’s governor and political power structure, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: racioppi@northjersey.com
Twitter: @dracioppi