Former Mayor Steve Lonegan To Announce 5th District Candidacy Thursday

PARAMUS, NJ — Steve Lonegan is getting back into the political game.

Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, will formally announce his candidacy to represent New Jersey's 5th congressional district at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Marriott Courtyard in Paramus. He will run against incumbent Rep. Josh Gottheimer in the 2018 mid-term elections.

Gottheimer, a Democrat, who defeated Scott Garrett in 2016 to represent one of the most conservative districts in New Jersey, a district President Donald Trump won in 2016. The district includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties.

Lonegan Thursday will "outline why the far-left liberal policies" of Gottheimer are "out-of-step" with district voters, Lonegan's campaign said in an announcement email Thursday morning.

Democratic strategist Michael Soliman told Observer.com that Lonegan would be a "gift" to Gottheimer.

“I would say Steve Lonegan is to the right of the tea party, and so, by Steve Lonegan entering the race, that’s sort of a gift because Josh beat a very conservative member of Congress for that district in Scott Garrett, and yet Lonegan is even more to the right than Garrett,” Soliman said.

Lonegan has been somewhat of a political lightning rod. He served as Bogota's mayor from 1996 to 2007 and has since tried to secure higher office. He was the state chairman of Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign.

Lonegan lost to Rep. Tom MacArthur in the 2014 Republican primary in the 3rd District and lost to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker in a 2013 special election after Sen. Frank Lautenberg died.

Lonegan twice sought the Republican nomination for governor, in 2005 and 2009, but lost. He lost a Senate race for the state's 37th District in 1997, Observer.com reported.

Lonegan has long been an advocate for conservatives. He tried to get a McDonald's billboard in Spanish taken down in Bogota and tried to make English the town's official language. He is also "plugged into the national conservative movement," Observer reported.

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Photo: Steve Lonegan/Courtesy of Lonegan for Congress