Guns, New Jersey, and THIS Election Season

Remember Patricia and Mark McCloskey?

If the names don’t register, the incident will. They are the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at George Floyd protest marchers during the heyday of such activity in 2020.

Proving that there is always a Jersey connection, the McCloskeys have popped up in state politics – specifically in CD-11.

Mikie Sherrill won that once solidly-Republican district in 2018 and has fended off two opponents since – a feat made easier by redistricting after the 2020 Census.

Given the fact she got nearly 60 percent of the vote two years ago, GOP interest in finding a challenger to Sherrill this year seems to have waned considerably.

The leading candidate appears to be Joseph Belnome of Belleville, who ran last year unsuccessfully for the state Senate in the 34th District.

Belnome’s social media accounts portray a staunch conservative, which brings us to the McCloskeys – they have endorsed him.

Belnome’s web page features both Patricia and Mark with the latter holding a semi-automatic weapon and his wife a handgun.

Mark McCloskey says it’s time to send a “true constitutional conservative” to Congress from the 11th District and Belnome’s your man. (his name was spelled wrong, but let’s ignore the small details).

This was still a rather amazing endorsement.

One viewing it has to wonder just how a guy from Missouri wielding a semi-automatic firearm is going to play in, say, Mountain Lakes, Chatham, or West Caldwell. Probably not well.

At any rate, Monday at 4 p.m. was the primary candidate filing deadline in New Jersey. Nothing at least on the congressional level tops the McCloskeys entrance in state politics.

In truth, much of the oxygen was sucked out of the deadline after Tammy Murphy’s Sunday’s withdrawal from the Senate race.

But there was some news on the Republican side.

Last Saturday, Alex Zdan was making the rounds at a crowded diner in Jefferson, telling people he was running for U.S. Senate

The one-time News 12 TV personality said he was looking forward to an April 3 debate with fellow candidates Curtis Bashaw and Christine Serrano Glassner.

But then … things changed and he dropped out.

Zdan said on Monday:

“While I am incredibly proud to have received so much support from people looking for a new voice in Washington and to have received the endorsements of Monmouth and Passaic Counties, I believe it is best to avoid a long, contentious and expensive Senate primary.”

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