NJ Socialists Will Take On Rob Menendez Jr. In 2024 Election

NEW JERSEY — The Socialist Workers Party recently announced that it will be running candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District for the 2024 election.

Both candidates – Joanne Kuniansky (Senate) and Lea Sherman (House) – have run for public office in New Jersey before.

Kuniansky was one of five gubernatorial candidates to qualify for the ballot in 2021, losing to Gov. Phil Murphy. See Related: Meet The Socialist Walmart Worker Running For New Jersey Governor

Kuniansky also ran alongside Sherman last year for seats in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly in the 33rd Legislative District. See Related: Socialist Workers Party Candidates Launch Run For NJ Legislature

Both candidates are now launching a new bid for federal office in New Jersey’s 8th Congressional District, which includes most of Hudson County, the East and North Wards of Newark in Essex County, and Elizabeth in Union County. The district’s current representative is Robert Menendez Jr., a Democratic Party member.

According to a news release, their campaign platform includes:

• “Defend Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews and its war to defeat Hamas. Free the hostages.”
• “Back Ukraine’s fight for independence from Moscow’s invasion.”
• “Demand an end to the U.S. government’s decades long economic war against Cuba’s socialist revolution.”
• “Safeguard constitutional protections from government interference.”

Their campaign statement continued:

“Colorado’s ruling Donald Trump off the ballot is only the latest blow to basic freedoms carried out by Democrats. The SWP candidates say safeguarding constitutional protections from government interference is crucial for the working class, regardless of whose rights are targeted. In the face of falling real wages, increased unemployment, and capitalism’s erosion of the family, organizing solidarity with union struggles is indispensable. Kuniansky and Sherman walked picket lines of striking New Brunswick nurses last year and are building support for striking bakery workers at International Flavors and Fragrances in Memphis.”

“Working people need to break from the capitalist parties — Democrats, Republicans, Greens and Libertarians — and build a party of our own that can lead the working class to overturn capitalist rule and use workers power to rebuild society from top to bottom and join the fight for a socialist world,” Kuniansky and Sherman said.

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