By John Burton
TRENTON – As the 4 p.m. deadline at the state’s Division of Elections came for candidates to file petitions for the special primary election for U.S. Senate, the line-up was set with four Democrats and two Republicans on the ballot.
As expected, Democrats Newark Mayor Cory Booker, 13-term 6th District Congressman Frank Pallone of Long Branch, Rep. Rush Holt, representing the 12th District, and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver of Essex County have submitted petitions to run Aug. 13 for the party line in the Oct. 16 special election.
Republicans Steve Lonegan, who first announced his intentions to run last Thursday and was mayor of Bogota for 12 years, and Dr. Alieta Eck, a Piscataway physician, have filed petitions to run.
Eck, said she is a member and former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which she described to a reporter as a “conservative AMA (American Medical Association).”
The winners of the primary will go on and run for the Oct. 16 special election to fill the Senate held by Frank Lautenberg who died last Monday at 89.
