Shop Talk: Booker Hires Kevin Griffis for Senate Race

Booker is exploring a bid for Senate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker continues to staff up his nascent Senate campaign; he has hired Kevin Griffis to serve as a senior adviser with a focus on communications.

Booker filed paperwork to explore a run for the open New Jersey Senate seat a couple of months ago, and this new hire signals he is continuing to put together campaign infrastructure.

Public polls show Booker with high ratings since he announced a bid for Senate last year. But several other Democratic candidates are considering a bid, including Reps. Rush D. Holt and Frank Pallone Jr., state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and state Senate President Steve Sweeney.

A veteran of of Democratic politics in Virginia, Griffis worked on President Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, according to a 2012 press release from the Podesta Group. Griffis worked at the Department of Commerce prior to his time at the Podesta Group. In 2008, he served as Obama’s communications director for the tough South Carolina Democratic primary.

CQ Roll Call has profiled Booker’s early hires, although his finance director ultimately opted against taking an official role in the campaign.

New Jersey: Poll Shows Booker Boosted After Lautenberg Retirement Announcement

Booker's position in the polls has improved.

A new poll shows Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s commanding lead in the 2014 primary in New Jersey has increased since Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg’s retirement announcement.

Half of the respondents said they would back Booker in a new Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind survey — a score that’s increased by 8 points since a similar January poll.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., another Democrat who has expressed interest in the Senate race, picked up 4 percent in the poll. Meanwhile, 7 percent supported Democratic Rep. Rush D. Holt, who has also floated his name as a contender. Thirty-two percent of respondents were undecided.

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New Jersey: Holt Expresses Interest in Senate Bid

Holt, right, is considering a bid for New Jersey's Senate seat. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Rush D. Holt, D-N.J., indicated Thursday he is interested in running for Senate.

“There’s no point in being coy,” he told PolitickerNJ. “I’ve made no secret in previous years that I would consider the Senate at the right time. But an expression of interest should not be taken as a campaign announcement.”

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New Jersey: Lautenberg Won’t Seek Re-Election

Lautenberg announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated 4:16 p.m. | Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., will not seek re-election, setting up a lively Democratic primary for his seat in 2014.

CQ Roll Call confirmed Lautenberg’s decision, which he explained to The Newark Star-Ledger in a report published Thursday.

“I am not announcing the end of anything. I am announcing the beginning of a two-year mission to pass new gun safety laws, protect children from toxic chemicals and create more opportunities for working families in New Jersey,” Lautenberg told the paper. “While I may not be seeking re-election, there is plenty of work to do before the end of this term and I’m going to keep fighting as hard as ever for the people of New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.”

Garden State operatives expect more than one Democrat will seek the seat. Last year, Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced he had formed an exploratory committee to look at a bid. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. is also eyeing the seat, along with possibly other state politicians.

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New Jersey: Andrews Defends Booker’s Lautenberg Challenge

Andrews defended Booker's decision to explore a Senate bid. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Rep. Robert E. Andrews defended Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s primary challenge to his fellow New Jersey Democrat, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, on Tuesday.

“I think he’s tried to be respectful of the senator’s choice, but made it clear he’d like to serve in the Senate and I think that’s very legitimate,” Andrews told CQ Roll Call.

Andrews knows what it’s like to be in Booker’s position. In 2008, he challenged Lautenberg in the Democratic primary; he lost by a whopping 24-point margin.

Booker announced his intention to explore a bid for Lautenberg’s seat late last year, when speculation had already started over whether the 89-year-old senator would run again in 2014.

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Shop Talk: Booker Aide Says Finance Director Leaving Campaign, Politics

Booker's finance director has left his Senate campaign. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker‘s Senate campaign fundraiser has suddenly left her position with his nascent Senate campaign to seek a gig outside of politics, his aide confirmed.

Samantha Maltzman left the campaign after less than two weeks on the job, although a Booker aide characterized the departure as amicable.

Maltzman came to the Booker campaign as one of her party’s most prominent finance directors in New Jersey. Her résumé, which CQ Roll Call profiled as part of Booker’s team, includes stints with Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Booker is challenging Lautenberg for the Democratic nomination in 2014, although the five-term senator has not said yet whether he will seek re-election.

Maltzman did not return a request for comment. Full story

New Jersey: Geraldo Talks Senate Run on Facebook

Television personality Geraldo Rivera took to his Facebook page to clarify the legal ends of his Senate candidacy contemplations.

“Despite my constitutionally protected musings on whether to seek that high office, I am taking no formal steps to initiate the electoral process, making no declarations, forming no committees, raising no money and hiring no campaign aides,” Rivera wrote. “Therefore, there is no [Federal Communications Commission] complication regarding equal time.”

Rivera is getting at the fact that he hosts a radio program and is stating that he is still in compliance with the “equal time rule.”

Rivera has floated his name as a Republican contender in the 2014 Senate race in New Jersey. Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election. Rivera’s recent comments have mostly been met with eye rolls, but according to The New York Times, Fox News “is taking it seriously.”

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New Jersey: Geraldo Rivera ‘Truly Contemplating’ Senate Run

Television personality Geraldo Rivera said on his radio program Thursday that he is “truly contemplating” a run as a Republican candidate for Senate in 2014, per The Hill.

Prior to this news, the action had been entirely on the Democratic side. Newark Mayor Cory Booker has created a federal account in preparation for a Senate run — a move that has greatly antagonized Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, who has not yet said if he is running for re-election.

Another possible Democratic contender is Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. A number of state officials are also being discussed as candidates or are publicly talking about runs, pending Lautenberg’s decision.

Roll Call rates the race as Safe Democratic.

New Jersey: Pascrell Opts Out of Gubernatorial Bid

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. won't run for governor of New Jersey in the upcoming November contest. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. of New Jersey will not be running for governor, despite finding the office “intriguing” in December.

In a joint press release with the Democratic leadership of the three counties he represents, Bergen, Hudson and Passaic, Pascrell announced that he was endorsing state Sen. Barbara Buono for governor.

No other serious Democratic candidate has emerged, and this is a show of establishment support behind Buono.

Should she win her party’s nomination, she will challenge popular Republican Gov. Chris Christie in November of this year.

New Jersey: Democrats Prefer Booker Over Lautenberg in New Poll

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, above, led Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg in a poll of New Jersey Democratic primary voters. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

New Jersey Democrats are ready for Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg to step aside in favor of Newark Mayor Cory Booker, according to a Qunnipiac University poll released Wednesday morning.

The survey showed that in a Democratic primary, Booker got 51 percent of the support, while 30 percent backed Lautenberg.

The poll’s key finding is that while Democrats might approve of Launtenberg’s job performance, they are ready for him to retire. Lautenberg’s job approval was at 50 percent, but 45 percent said he does not deserve to be re-elected, compared to 36 percent who said he does.

Another 71 percent of those surveyed said that his age, 90 years old at his next swearing-in, makes his job “too difficult.”

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Pascrell: Booker Doesn’t Scare Lautenberg

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. discussed the New Jersey Senate race with CQ Roll Call Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg won’t be intimidated, nor will he decide his political future based on Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s entrance into the New Jersey Senate race, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. suggested in an interview with CQ Roll Call on Tuesday.

“My friend Frank Lautenberg is a dog. I mean he ain’t gonna lay down for anybody,” Pascrell said. “He will make the right decision when it comes time, so I’m confident in the process. I’m confident in our bench and we’ll see what happens.”

Lautenberg has yet to announce whether he will seek re-election in 2014. But Booker has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission, possibly paving the way for a contested Democratic primary. The move has sparked drama of the Garden State variety. Lautenberg’s aides have responded with highly critical, anonymous comments to the press directed at Booker.

“That’s kind of like, in-your-face. So, now you know how I think about it,” Pascrell said of Booker’s decision to file his candidacy papers before Lautenberg had announced whether he would run for re-election. “It’s a photo-op. What can I tell you?”

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New Jersey: Booker Says Talk of Senate Campaign Is Premature

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

In at least his third national television appearance in about 36 hours, Newark Mayor Cory Booker attempted to downplay his nascent Senate bid on MSNBC’s “The Last Word.”

“This is really not an issue right now. In order to stay in compliance with the Federal Election Commission, I can’t even do the due diligence of research, of travel, I can’t even go down to D.C. to meet with people from my mayoral account. I have to file something,” Booker said in a Monday evening interview.

“This is 18 months away. It’s a long time. All of New Jersey, we should not be talking about Senate races!” he added. “We have two great senators doing a great job for us, fighting the good fight on critical issues from guns to Sandy aid. … We don’t really need a distraction right now over a Senate race. It’s not even an election year.”

At issue is the fact that until Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg announces his retirement, Booker has essentially launched a primary challenge of the 88-year-old incumbent. The move sparked anger within Lautenberg’s camp and within New Jersey Democratic circles.

Booker indicated he had agreed to the Monday night MSNBC television appearance to discuss gun violence.

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New Jersey: Booker Keeps Options Open

Newark Mayor Cory Booker would not rule out a primary challenge against New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg during an interview Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

“I’m not ruling out anything right now, but I think it’s premature to be speculative,” he said.

Moderator David Gregory asked whether there have been any missteps in the early groundwork of the Booker campaign. Booker announced in December that he was seriously exploring a Senate run and filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. Lautenberg is up for re-election and has yet to announce his plans.

“No. Again, this is really early,” Booker responded. “We’ve reached out to him. We even had a trip down here to speak with him, but he wasn’t able to speak.”

The context of the line of questioning includes angry, blind quotes from the Lautenberg camp about Booker to Politico on Friday.

“This campaign is over a year away. You know New Jersey has got to focus on a governor’s race and a legislative race. But for me to do a good exploration, the due diligence for running, I have to file that paper,” Booker said.

New Jersey: Booker Files Papers to Run for Senate

Booker has filed to run for the Senate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated: 4:30 p.m. | Newark Mayor Cory Booker has filed papers to run for Senate. The Huffington Post first reported the news.

It is another instance of incremental pressure Booker has applied over the last month on Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, a fellow Democrat. A big question among New Jersey Democrats is: Are these moves encouraging Lautenberg to step aside, or is Booker alienating the incumbent to the point that Lautenberg will double-down and run for re-election?

Earlier this week, Fairleigh Dickinson University released a poll that showed Booker leading Lautenberg in a head-to-head matchup. Also, Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s, D-W.Va., retirement announcement Friday morning sparked chatter on Capitol Hill that Lautenberg is most likely the next senator to announce his retirement.

A “senior adviser” to Lautenberg lashed into Booker in comments to Politico, calling him “self-absorbed and disrespectful.”

New Jersey: Booker Says Lautenberg Has ‘Got a Decision to Make’

Booker has announced his intention to run for a seat in the Senate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Monday morning that Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg has “got a decision to make” on whether to retire.

The comment, made on CNN’s “Starting Point,” is acknowledgment that the Senate field is far more complicated than he projected during his Senate exploratory announcement. Booker’s candidacy as it stands is a primary challenge of a longtime Democratic incumbent. Lautenberg has yet to announce his retirement, and few in New Jersey have any idea on what he will do.

“I want to give him the space to make his own decision,” Booker said. “I’ve announced my intention to run, but the reality is we’ve got a good Senator. He’s been loyal. He’s been there for a long time. And I think he’s got a decision to make.”

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