Sue Kiley Called Rep. Pallone To Congratulate Him On Congress Win

MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ — Republican challenger Sue Kiley called Congressman Frank Pallone late Tuesday night to congratulate him on his re-election victory in New Jersey's Sixth Congressional District, according to a consultant on the Kiley campaign.

During the call, Pallone, a Democrat, told Kiley she was his only Republican opponent in more than three decades to call him, said the consultant, Monmouth County Republican operative Art Gallagher.

Kiley has not yet publicly spoken about the race.

Kiley is the former mayor of Hazlet and current Monmouth Commissioner. This November, she tried to unseat Pallone from New Jersey's Sixth Congressional District, hoping to ride a red wave of voters angry about the economy, inflation and crime.

Except that red wave didn't quite happen, neither in New Jersey nor across the nation.

The Associated Press determined Pallone the winner, with 98,471 votes to 72,763 for Kiley, according to these vote counts, which have not yet been made official.

NJ 6 is a corner of Central New Jersey, from Carteret down to Asbury Park, that leans blue. Voters in this area have re-elected Pallone to Congress since 1988. Every two years, without success, a Republican tries to unseat him.

Kiley truly believed she had a shot in 2022, said Gallagher.

"Reading the tea leaves back in January when she first decided she would get into this race, she really thought she would win," said Gallagher Wednesday morning. "But the red wave that people thought would happen didn't really materialize."

She was always considered a longshot: Pallone has a $4 million war chest compared to Kiley, who raised just $250,000 for her campaign, $100,000 of which came from herself and her husband.

"He outspent her 10 to one in a district that is heavily gerrymandered to lean towards Democrats," said Gallagher. "Pallone did a lot of mailers; he had two TV commercials. He had targeted social media ads. She did one mailer and had one commercial; it just wasn't enough. I told her to be competitive we needed to raise $2 million for this campaign."

"But she did perform better than other Republican candidates across the state who outspent her: (Republican Bob Healey, Jr.) spent $5 million trying to unseat (Congressman Andy) Kim in South Jersey; she outperformed (Paul) DeGroot (who tried to unseat Democrat Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill)," he continued. "Republicans statewide ran on the issue that the economy is awful and that inflation is out of control. But I don't think people in New Jersey are really hurting yet. They have a lot of liquidity."

In fact, Tom Kean, Jr. was the only Republican able to take away a Congress seat from a Democrat in the 2022 midterms, winning the NJ 7 seat held by Tom Malinowski in the Bridgewater area.

Politically, Kiley and Pallone are night and day: He is a strong supporter of President Joe Biden whereas she backed Donald Trump and they take vastly opposing views on issues such as the economy, abortion, U.S. energy policy and how to bring down gas prices and crime. Frank Pallone Vs. Sue Kiley: Where They Stand On The Biggest Issues

Gallagher also mused that Kiley's pro-life views may have cost her votes. Kiley said she "welcomed" when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year, and she said abortion should only happen if there are serious health risks to the mother, or in cases of rape.

"Roe v. Wade hurt her," said her campaign consultant. "I think Roe v. Wade was the issue that Democrats used to get their voters out this year; it galvanized Democratic voters. Pallone spent money identifying (Kiley) as a pro-life extremist. He ran one ad saying she would ban abortion no matter what. Now, that's not true. I don't think her position on abortion is as radical as Pallone painted her to be, and I don't think it's as radical as the Democratic Party paints most Republicans to be."

"The bill in Washington right now is to ban abortion after 15 weeks, which is not unreasonable," said Gallagher, referring to a bill from Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham to ban abortion nationwide at 15 weeks. "I think her position on abortion is a mainstream position. I didn't think abortion would be as important or as motivating issue as it was, but the Dems did a very good job demagoguing that issue."

Also, Kiley performed well in Monmouth County, on friendly hometown Republican turf where she is very well known, but she failed to connect with voters in Middlesex County Democratic strongholds like Edison and Woodbridge — not to mention Asbury Park.

Monmouth County Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, a Republican, said Kiley is "a very good friend" and campaigned for her.

"In my door knocking, I did hear red voters saying they were staying home. They said they're not going to go out and vote because they think the election is rigged," he said. "There's a percentage of people who are turned off by the mail-in voting, all the money spent to vote early. I tell them, if you think the election is rigged, then you're only helping the people who don't want you to vote. Vote anyway."

Still, Scharfenberger, who like Kiley also supported the policies of Trump, declined to blame the former president for casting doubts on U.S. election integrity.

"Trump is old news," he said. "I don't think he has any influence on elections in New Jersey."

"She ran a classy campaign and the district is drawn in a way that favors Democrats," he continued, of Kiley. "Pallone had the financial edge, he had a lot more money."