Steve Lonegan, John McCann play the Trump card as GOP primary for NJ congress seats looms

Richard Cowen | NorthJersey

John McCann and Steve Lonegan both want to build a wall, and both want to outlaw sanctuary cities. They are opposed to an assault weapons ban in response to recent massacres and school shootings. And they believe cutting taxes stimulates the economy.

At first glance, not much appears to separate McCann, the 58-year-old attorney from Oakland from Lonegan, the 62-year-old ex-mayor of Bogota turned developer from Hackensack. But there are some subtle and significant differences between McCann and Lonegan as they battle for the Republican nomination in the New Jersey's 5th Congressional District that covers portions of Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties.

Their mutual embrace of President Donald Trump's agenda of law and order, border security, and gun rights is a direct appeal to the conservative base, those Republicans in the 5th CD who are most active — and most likely to vote — in Tuesday's primary election.

"You won’t get a lot of marginal voters showing up," said Ben Dworkin, the director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship. "Given President Trump's strength with the Republican base, it's not surprising to see both candidates embrace the president and his agenda."

Whoever wins Tuesday's Republican primary will have their work cut out for them. Their opponent, first-time Democratic incumbent Josh Gottheimer, has spent much of his initial term breaking bread with Republicans in Congress in an effort to find common political ground. He's also got more than $3 million in his campaign war chest.

Gottheimer was surrounded by Republican and Democratic leaders from the 5th Distict on Friday when he announced his reelection campaign from a firehouse in Teaneck. Gottheimer wants to continue governing from what he calls the reasonable middle.

"So, while governing from that reasonable middle isn’t always easy – especially now when the wings on both sides are so loud – it’s what built this great country," Gottheimer said. "Our great leaders have always reached across the aisle to get things done."

Two Republican mayors, Harry Shortway from Vernon and Joe Kennedy from Belvidere, both took the podium to praise Gottheimer for helping them solve problems.They were joined by the mayor of Teaneck, Mohammed Hameeduddin, and the mayor of Paramus, Richard LaBarbiera, two large Bergen County towns that are Democratic strongholds.

Josh Gottheimer announces his campaign for re-election Josh Gottheimer announces his campaign for re-election at Teaneck Fire House

"It's not about being a Republican or Democrat. It's about helping people," said Shortway, who credited Gottheimer with getting the power turned back on the old Playboy Mansion, which housed indigent people, after the new developer tried to turn it off. "Josh wants to help people."

Whereas Gottheimer has staked out the political center, both McCann and Lonegan are to the right, and at least at first glance, appear to be rubber stamps for Trump. But a closer look, based on interviews with the two candidates, reveal some differences.

Both candidates wrap themselves in the Second Amendment right to bear arms. McCann favors requiring universal background checks perspective gun buyers but Lonegan opposes them they would just "add another layer of bureaucracy."

On school security, both candidates favor allowing trained personnel to carry guns in schools — even teachers. McCann says the approach should similar to that of courthouses, where there are metal detectors and armed police officers at each entrance.

"I would support legislation that encourages local governments to secure the schools in the same way that we secure our court houses," McCann said. "We now have a paradigm change, a new reality."

Lonegan said many classrooms have doors that are too flimsy to stop a bullet and should be replaced.

"My wife is a teacher," Lonegan said. "We give cops and firefighters the best equipment. My wife has no equipment. Put in classroom doors that can't be kicked down or shot through."

Although both candidates support the Trump tax cuts in principle, McCann favors restoring the full deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT — "provided we can make other cuts to the federal budget," he said.

Lonegan would leave the new $10,000 limit on the SALT deduction in place, because he claims the income tax cut will more than make up the difference for most property owners.

Lonegan is staunchly pro-life, and recently told an audience at the Knights of Columbus in Fair Lawn that he'd support every anti-abortion bill that came before him. He's tried to tag McCann as being pro-choice, but McCann says the label doesn't fit.

"I believe that life begins at conception," McCann said.

But when asked whether he would support any future bill to further limit abortion, McCann indicated he would not.

"The law is what is," he said.

The winner gets to face Gottheimer, the freshman incumbent from Wyckoff, who began his political career as a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. He's been very active during his first term, co-chairing the Problem Solvers Caucus, a gathering of 24 Democrats and 24 Republicans looking for middle ground on divisive issues like guns and taxes.

Regarding SALT, Gottheimer authored legislation, later adopted by Governor Murphy, to allow property owners to convert their tax payments to charitable donations, enabling them to a take a 90 percent write-off. The Internal Revenue Service hasn't decided whether it will allow this novel approach.

Beyond their stance on the issues, the name-calling and mudslinging has been fast and furious in the waning days of the campaign. Lonegan dubbed himself "The true conservative" in the race; McCann calls him "Lose Again Lonegan," owing to the fact that Lonegan has previously run for U.S. Senate, the nomination for governor twice, Congress twice, and state senate once — and lost every race.

McCann recently referred to himself as a "responsible conservative" when he spoke last week to 40 people at the American Legion hall in West Milford. Asked by one audience member what the difference was between him and Lonegan, McCann said was less driven by ideology and more of a pragmatic problem solver.

As an example of ideology gone haywire, McCann reminded the group that their former congressman, Scott Garrett, initially balked at a $50 billion federal aid bill that Congress proposed following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Garrett, who had previously opposed federal relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina because he felt the bill was loaded with wasteful spending, ultimately supported the Sandy bill.

"I consider myself more of an independent thinker," he said.

McCann's more moderate approach won him the backing of both the Bergen County Republican Organization and the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization, which awarded him the line, or preferred ballot position. Bergen County, with 43 municipalities in the 5th CD, is expected to provide the lion's share of the vote on Tuesday.

Bergen County chairman Paul DiGaetano is backing McCann because he believes he has the better chance to beat Gottheimer than Lonegan. Always a Republican stronghold, the 5th CD became more Democratic-leaning after the 2010 redistricting, which brought most of the large and liberal bastion of Teaneck into the district.

DiGaetano, whose term as chairman is coming to an end, fears that Lonegan, who has received substantial financial support from far-right donors from out-of-state, may be too conservative to win in November.

"I don't want to go for run around the track. I want to win," DiGaetano said. “The money from these arch conservative groups might help Lonegan in the primary, but it might become a liability in the general election. I think his position and policies make his November election potential much more difficult.”

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But Lonegan points out that he beat Cory Booker head to head in the 5th CD in the race for U.S. Senate in 2013. Lonegan lost the statewide race, but in the 5th, he beat Booker 68,065 to 66,303, and won all four counties.

Lonegan believes that had it not been for a government shutdown at the time of that October election, he would have won.

"I ran a big, brutal battle against Cory Booker, a Democratic superstar," Lonegan said.