Gov. Christie appoints Jeff Chiesa to U.S. Senate

Catalina Camia and Martha T. Moore | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Jeffrey Chiesa to fill N.J. seat in Senate New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa will temporarily fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant with the passing of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Gov. Chris Christie announced Thursday.

Special election for remainder of Frank Lautenberg%27s term is Oct. 16

Chiesa%2C currently New Jersey%27s attorney general%2C says he will not run

Nominating petitions for special election due Monday%2C June 10

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appointed state Attorney General Jeff Chiesa to be the interim U.S. senator Thursday.

Chiesa, a Republican and former chief counsel to Christie, said he will not be a candidate in the special election Oct. 16 for the remainder of Frank Lautenberg's term.

Lautenberg, 89, died Monday of complications from viral pneumonia. The U.S. Senate is paying a final tribute to Lautenberg, whose body is lying in repose this afternoon in the chamber.

Chiesa, 47, attorney general of New Jersey since January 2012, is a longtime Christie ally. They've known each other for more than 20 years, since Christie interviewed him for a clerkship at his law firm. Chiesa would later serve as a federal prosecutor for nine years at the U.S. attorney's office.

"I'll use my best judgment," Chiesa, a self-described conservative, said at a news conference with Christie.

"I don't kid myself that I'm going to go down there with a bunch of bills," he said. "I want to understand the process, I want to understand the people that I'll be working with and develop relationships with them and do the best I can."

Chiesa will join the U.S. Senate on Monday — the same day special election candidates must submit petitions with 1,000 signatures to New Jersey's election division. Primaries will be held Aug. 13.

Because of the compressed election schedule, New Jersey moved quickly into a political frenzy — even before Lautenberg's casket arrived at the U.S. Capitol. Lautenberg, the last World War II veteran in the Senate, will be buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Christie, who is running for a second term in November, is taking heat from Democrats for the timing and costs of the special election. State law on filling vacancies conflicted, and some Republicans wanted Christie to delay the special election until November 2014.

Democrats wanted a special election this November to help boost turnout for state Sen. Barbara Buono, who lags Christie in all statewide public opinion polls.

The primary and the general election will cost New Jersey about $12 million each, which Christie said the state will pay. Christie said he would have faced a lawsuit if he scheduled the special election for next year.

"I was confronted with a set of imperfect choices," Christie said, "but I don't believe that ... letting people select their senator as soon as possible and sending him to Washington as soon as possible is" wrong.

Hours before Christie announced his appointment, Democratic Rep. Rush Holt declared his candidacy. Holt, an eight-term congressman and a physicist, said he is the best person "to continue the passionate advocacy for progressive values that Sen. Lautenberg exemplified."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who had declared his intention to run for the Senate in 2014, is gathering signatures for his nominating petition, according to The Star-Ledger.

Booker, a popular Democrat with a national following, has raised nearly $2 million for the 2014 Senate race and would be able to use those funds for the special election.

Rep. Frank Pallone, a 14-term Democratic congressman, is also likely to run for the vacant Senate seat. Pallone can transfer funds from his House account — about $3.4 million — into another account for a Senate race.

Steve Lonegan, a former mayor of Bogota, is running for the GOP Senate nomination.

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