BARNEGAT – A candidate for the 3rd District Congressional seat had stepped down and endorsed a rival. However, a recent change in the primary election date might change all that.
Previously, Barnegat Mayor John Novak announced that he withdrew his candidacy for Congress and had endorsed David Richter. They are both Republicans seeking to win the spot away from incumbent Democrat Andy Kim.
“David Richter filed a challenge to my candidate petitions with the Secretary of State and Office of Administrative Law alleging certain signatures were invalid as being duplicates with his petitions and other reasons,” Novak said.
“After careful review, line by line and signature by signature, it was to be that many who signed my petitions also signed David’s or another candidate’s petitions. Several others were invalid for various reasons; the facts are what the facts are and the law is the law. The proper thing to do under these circumstances is to withdraw,” Novak said.
So, he stepped down and endorsed Richter. However, a recent change might give Novak the window needed to come back into the race.
When Gov. Phil Murphy pushed the primary election date to July 7, he did not extend the deadline for filing of candidate petitions, Novak said.
An attorney, Novak filed an injunction against the governor, alleging that Murphy overstepped his bounds by refusing to extend this deadline.
“The statute governing the filing of candidate petitions clearly states that the petition filing deadline is ‘before 4 p.m. on the 64th day before the primary election.’ The Governor, by Executive Order, recently changed the primary election date to July 7, 2020 but refused to extend the deadline for filing of candidate petitions,” Novak said. The lawsuit maintains that petitioners should have more time to collect signatures and that the authority over petition deadlines is with the legislative branch, not the executive branch (which would be the governor).
This changes things because Novak said that the only reason he dropped out was because he lacked the signatures to run. If the deadline is extended, he could be back in the race.
As for his earlier endorsement of Richter, Novak said, “Under the circumstances as they were April 7th (when Novak stepped down), I felt that David was the second best choice – and I still do feel that way.”
The seat has had a lot of speculation as a divided party determines which Republican to run against incumbent Democrat Andy Kim. The two frontrunners had been Richter and Kate Gibbs. Ranking party members on each side had started endorsing one or the other, and a party vote had been held.
The Burlington County Republicans endorsed Gibbs and the Ocean County Republicans endorsed Richter.
Therefore, in the primary election (which has recently been pushed to July 7), Richter will appear in Trump’s column in Ocean County and Gibbs will appear in Trump’s column in Burlington County.
Novak was the only candidate that lived in Ocean County. Kim, Richter, and Gibbs all live in Burlington County.
“Last summer I was inspired to consider running for Congress and was led to enter the race; I did so with a passion for this country, its freedoms and its foundational beginnings,” Novak said. “As a conservative Republican I sought to protect our Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment and Second Amendment, as well as free market capitalism, individual liberties and the sanctity of life. I want America First,” Novak said.
Richter and Gibbs have been lobbing challenges at each other for the last few weeks. Richter has attacked Gibbs on her record of arrests for drugs and shoplifting, and Gibbs has hit Richter on his connection to the Biden family and “district shopping” because he moved to the 3rd District specifically to run for election.
Novak also ran for Ocean County Freeholder in 2016.
