The New Jersey statehouse | Mel Evans/AP Photo New Jersey Democrats chafe as one of their own spreads conspiracy theories

Former New Jersey state Sen. Raymond Lesniak didn’t hesitate when Assemblyman Jamel Holley invited him to emcee a Jan. 28 fundraiser headlined by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading voice in the anti-vaccination movement.

But Lesniak said he was surprised when, during the event for Holley (D-Union), the lawmaker began speaking negatively about vaccinations — just days after taking on the mantle as one of the most outspoken opponents of a bill to toughen vaccine requirements for New Jersey students.


“I don’t remember what he said other than he was very anti-vaccination. It surprised me,” said Lesniak, adding that he’s a co-counsel on environmental litigation work with one of Kennedy’s law firms but was unaware of his anti-vaccination views.

“[Senate President Steve] Sweeney called me up and asked me why I was there. I said ‘I have no idea, man,’” added Lesniak, a Democrat who served for four decades in the Legislature before running for governor and who still gets involved in state political battles.

Holley’s courting of the anti-vaccine constituency has made members of own party uncomfortable and put them in an awkward position when he became New Jersey Democrats‘ most high profile anti-vaccination activist.

In an op-ed published in February, Holley wrote that he has met children who “were injured from vaccines” and claimed the New Jersey legislation would “remove the right of a parent to protect a child.” (While vaccines do sometimes have side effects, they’re rare. The New York Times reported that the National Vaccine Injuries Program has compensated about 6,600 people for vaccine injuries over the last three decades, out of billions of doses administered.)

In an interview with POLITICO, Holley — who has said people have courted him to challenge Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in a primary — doubled down on claims about alleged dangers associated with vaccinations.

“A parent has a right to choose whether or not they vaccinate,” said Holley, who took issue with a late amendment to the New Jersey bill that applied less stringent vaccine requirements for private school students in order to win support. The bill would have removed a religious exemption parents have increasingly used to avoid vaccines. Holley also claimed, incorrectly, that the bill eliminated medical exemptions from vaccines.

The bill, a version of which passed the Assembly, failed at the end of the legislative session when it fell one vote short of passing the state Senate as thousands of anti-vaxxers protested outside. Sweeney, the Senate president, has vowed to try again this session to get the bill passed.

Holley — who is in his third term and represents Roselle, Elizabeth, Hillside and Union Township — said he’s speaking for the thousands of people who showed up at the Statehouse in January to protest the bill, which was also opposed by most legislative Republicans and several Democrats.

“Those 10,000 people came because they wanted us to hear them, and I heard them,” Holley said. “And unfortunately some of the stories were sad, and I take it very, very seriously that when people are talking and people are advocating that we should listen.”

Holley’s comments about the coronavirus pandemic have also been controversial. He’s taken to social media recently to tweet conspiracy theories about Bill Gates and the virus at the same time opponents of state lockdown measures target the Microsoft founder with outlandish claims.

“I guess #BillGates paid enough to #mainstream media for all the coverage he's getting,” Holley tweeted on April 4. “Be great if we had alternatives --- like real Doctors! If he thinks for one second he’s going to do what he did in Africa to the US he's got another thing coming!

That same day, Holley also promoted the use of the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus, tweeting: “Release the #Hydroxchloroquin.” He posted on Facebook that he believes the drug saved his uncle, who had contracted the virus.

Holley declined to explain what he believes Gates did, telling a reporter to “look up the reports and do your own research on it, but I have my own information and my own research that I’ve done.”

About a week before Holley tweeted about Gates, a false post purportedly written by a French doctor trended on social media, claiming a “Bill Gates vaccine” to treat coronavirus was being created to “destroy Africa.”

Democrats, who hold themselves out to be the party that more closely follows science, have found themselves unable to defend Holley’s remarks, though most are unwilling to publicly criticize him.

However, one Democratic committee member from Holley’s hometown of Roselle said in a statement that Holley should return the money he raised from the RFK Jr. fundraiser in January.

“As a Scientist, I was disgusted that Assemblyman Holley callously raised campaign funds by denying science and preying on people’s fears. We are witnessing first-hand what happens when a virus sets upon the world and there is no vaccine to protect the population,” said Anthony Esposito, a chemist and former Roselle school board member.

According to Holley’s latest campaign finance report, he raised almost $76,000 during the first three months of 2020, though it’s not clear how much came from the January fundraiser. At the time of the event, Holley claimed to have raised roughly $100,000.

Holley dismissed Esposito, calling him a “non-factor to me” who has “been a local problem since the day I ran for office back in 2004.”

Democratic operatives POLITICO spoke with in and around Holley’s legislative district but who asked to remain anonymous so they could talk freely about the situation say they are starting to doubt Holley can maintain party support for another term in 2021.

That would likely be a political death blow for Holley in Union County, where the local Democratic organization has a firm grip on politics even though it is riven by competing factions led by state Sens. Nicholas Scutari and Joseph Cryan.

Two Democratic sources on both sides of the divide who also asked to remain anonymous said Holley has alienated erstwhile allies through his anti-vaccination and coronavirus rhetoric. Those issues arose, the sources said, after Holley picked a fight with the Murphy administration over the lead crisis in Newark when Holley urged Murphy and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to call the National Guard into the city — which is not in his district.

Lesniak said Holley’s views shouldn‘t cost him his legislative seat.

“It’s not going to threaten his reelection or his standing in the party,” Lesniak said. “We don’t believe in litmus tests unless you’re a bigot and hateful.“

Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage, who’s seeking his eighth term this year, said he briefly stopped by the Holley fundraiser, but disagrees with the anti-vaccine movement.

“I went there to say hello to Robert F. Kennedy. I didn’t contribute any money to the anti-vax cause. I just went to say hello to an icon’s son and then I left,” Bollwage said. “I don’t believe in the message, to be honest with you. And I would not encourage the people of Elizabeth that are under the jurisdiction of me as the mayor to believe in that message either.”

Asked if Holley could lose party support, Bollwage said, “that’s not a question for me” because “I’m not a chairman.”

Among the Democratic chairs from Union County and the four municipalities Holley represents, Hillside Chairman Anthony Salters said he would support Holley if he runs for reelection. “I think as important as diversity is, so is the importance of diverse views,” he said.

Cryan, who is chairman in Union Township and has fought with Holley for years, said he wouldn’t make any commitment ahead of redistricting in 2021 — if the process isn’t delayed by the pandemic.

Elizabeth Democratic Chairman Tony Teixeira declined to comment. Neither Roselle Democratic Chairman Reginald Atkins nor Scutari, the county chairman, responded to requests for comment.