Frelinghuysen Faces Steeper Re-Election Fight After Controversial Letter, New Report Says

MORRISTOWN, NJ — After years of handily winning re-elections, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen might face a tougher fight going into the 2018 campaign, a new report by the Cook Political Report found.

Until May 12, New Jersey's 11th district was considered likely Republican, paving the way for Frelinghuysen to be easily re-elected in 2018. That changed once a letter Frelinghuysen sent to a potential campaign supporter came to light last week. In that letter, he added a handwritten postscript, outing a bank executive and political activist to her employer.

On May 19, the first forecast release following the letter controversy, the race was changed to leaning Republican, meaning Republicans still have an advantage, but it's now more competitive.

In response to the note, Frelinghuysen's campaign office provided this statement to WNYC last week:

“The Congressman wrote a brief and innocuous note at the bottom of a personal letter in regard to information that had been reported in the media. He was in no way involved in any of the bank's business and is unaware of any of the particulars about this employee's status with the bank.”

During a May 9 telephone town hall, Frelinghuysen spoke out against the "highly- orchestrated" activist movement that has been targeting his Morristown office (you can listen to a full recording of the call below):

We’ve been getting callers from all over the country that have been full of vitriol, a lot of anger, and I just think people have the right to speak out, but I just want to, for people that have jammed our lines and made it difficult for our constituent needs, it will be nice for you to back off. I’m not suggesting that people don’t have the right to speak and let their views be known, but some of this is highly orchestrated, and it’s unfortunate.

>>>Read More: Rep. Frelinghuysen's Letter To Bank Leads To Employee Quitting

Members of his staff did not return emailed requests for comment about the competitiveness of the campaign.

NJ-11 has long been considered a solidly Republican district, so much so that in 2000 Michael Moore led a campaign to run a ficus plant as a write-in challenger (yes, really). Trump carried the district, but with less than 50 percent of the vote.

Frelinghuysen is currently the most powerful member of the New Jersey congressional delegation and has been in office since 1995. He is currently the chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, which is responsible for budgetary issues.

According to their website, the Cook Report is an "independent, non-partisan newsletter that analyzes elections and campaigns for the US House of Representatives, US Senate, Governors and President as well as American political trends."

Listen to Frelinghuysen's most recent tele-town hall here:

File photo via Rodney Frelinghuysen

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