7 GOP Candidates Want To Flip This South Jersey District

SOUTH JERSEY — There's no shortage of Republican candidates hoping to flip New Jersey's 4th Legislative District. Seven GOP candidates filed to run for the State Legislature in the newly redistricted territory, which Democrats have largely held for two decades.

All State Senate and Legislature seats are up for election this year. The 4th district — which has featured parts of Camden and Gloucester Counties — has gone blue since State Sen. Fred Madden first got elected in 2004. But the 4th District may represent Republicans' best chance to pick up seats because of the new district map that makes it more favorable for GOP candidates.

Primary Election Day in New Jersey is June 6.

Get caught up on the race:

• Gloucester Township Councilman Will Run For State House
• State Sen. Fred Madden To Retire After 2 Decades Holding Seat

But any Republican hoping to represent LD-4 will likely need to survive a packed primary field. Here are the tickets that filed to run with the party:

• DeSilvio ticket: County Commissioner Nick DeSilvio is running for State Senate, with Assembly candidates Michael Clark and Denise Gonzalez.
• Del Borrello ticket: former Washington Township Council Member Christopher Del Borrello is running with Assembly candidates Amanda Esposito and Matt Walker.
• Keating running alone: John Keating is running outside of both tickets for Assembly.

The list of candidates remains unofficial. Monday marked the deadline for candidates to submit petitions to run. So in the coming days, candidates around the state could get thrown off the ballot because of issues such as insufficient valid signatures. But in the meantime, it appears the GOP will have a competitive LD-4 primary, while the Democratic Party has settled on its slate for the district.

State Assembly Member Paul Moriarty leads the Democratic ticket, running for State Senate. Moriarty's slate also features Gloucester Township Council Member Dan Hutchison and Monroe Board of Education Member Cody Miller.

The district will have at least two new representatives next year, as Madden and State Assembly Member Gabriella Mosquera opted against running for re-election.

Since 2004, the district has gone primarily blue at the state level — the only Republican to represent the district since was Domenick DiCicco, who served one term in the State Assembly from 2010-12. But redistricting added Buena, Buena Vista and Franklin Township to the district, making the area more electorally favorable for the GOP.

Even before redistricting, Republican candidates narrowed the gap in LD-4 elections. In 2017, Madden won the State Senate general election unopposed. Moriarty and Mosquera combined for 63.4 percent of the Assembly vote, while their Republican foes generated 35.4 percent.

Fast forward to 2021, when the GOP made gains throughout New Jersey and Gov. Phil Murphy narrowly won re-election. Madden won his election with a safe cushion of 54.4 percent of the vote, but the Assembly race was closer. Moriarty and Mosquera combined for 52.3 percent of ballots, while the Republican candidates took 46.8 percent of votes.