Gov. Chris Christie Names Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa to Lautenberg Seat

Sen. Frank Lautenberg died Monday at the age of 89

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has named state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa to temporarily fill the U.S. Senate seat open after the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Lautenberg died Monday after nearly 30 years in the Senate. The liberal Democrat was 89.

Chiesa, a Republican, is appointed to the seat until a special election Oct. 16. Whoever wins then will have to run again in the fall of 2014.

The races will shape up quickly because of a deadline Monday for candidates to file papers declaring they are in the race. A primary is set for August.

Christie said Chiesa had decided not to run for the seat in the special election.

Chiesa worked with Christie in the U.S. attorney's office before becoming the top lawyer for the state government. He has overseen gun buyback programs all over the state, but has not had a particularly high profile. 

Raised in Bound Brook, he attended the University of Notre Dame as an undergrad and went on to get a law degree from the Catholic University of America. He is married with a son and a daughter.

Christie said he'll appoint an acting attorney general Monday, theoretically leaving the job open for Chiesa to return. 

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt became the first Democrat to announce he's seeking his party's nomination for the special election.

In an email Thursday to supporters, he explained why he's running. "The reason is simple," he wrote. "I believe I am the best candidate to continue the passionate advocacy for progressive values that Sen. Lautenberg exemplified."

Holt, now 64, was assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for most of the 1990s before being elected to Congress in 1998. Around his central New Jersey district, it's not uncommon to see a bumper sticker that proclaims, accurately: "My congressman IS a rocket scientist."

He's considered one of the most liberal members of New Jersey's congressional delegation. He's pushed for laws against racial profiling and has been critical of drilling for oil and natural gas on public lands and waters.

Two well-funded Democrats, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, had expressed interest in the seat before Lautenberg died, but neither has made an announcement so far. Booker began raising money to seek the seat in January and has brought in about $2 million.

The only Republican in the race so far is former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a conservative who has twice sought his party's nomination for governor.

Lonegan, who runs the New Jersey office for American for Prosperity, said Wednesday that he looks forward to weighing in on national issues such as the Obama administration's handling of the attack last year at the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, and the selective scrutiny of conservative groups' nonprofit tax applications.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us