Sean's blog

Dear Voter,

I want to thank you for participating in the historic election here in the 3rd District. For the first time since 1882, voters elected a Democratic congressman to represent them in Washington - and I will work as hard as I can over the next two years to earn the confidence that you have shown in me.

I ran for Congress because I believed our country needed a new, bi-partisan approach to solve the serious problems we face both here at home and overseas. The thousands of voters I met during this campaign - from the Shore towns in Ocean County and through Burlington and Camden Counties - told me they wanted real change. They said the old way of doing business in Washington was broken and that they needed a representative who will look out for their families' interests -- not the special interests.

I am eager to hit the ground running in Congress and begin working to bring about about the change that the voters of this district and I believe we need. I have very specific ideas to help ease the financial burden on our middle-class, and I am determined to start putting a commonsense agenda in motion from Day One.

I am deeply appreciative of those who supported me in this campaign, and I thank everyone for taking part in our nation's democratic process. I learned a great deal listening to you over the course of this campaign, and I have built relationships with members of both parties. As your congressman, I will work in a bi-partisan manner to represent your interests in Washington.
 
I am thankful to the hundreds of volunteers who worked on behalf of me and the entire Democratic ticket. To the many groups that have supported me throughout this campaign, including the Sierra Club, Recreational Fisherman, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Firefighters, the Fraternal Order of Police, the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and the many members of organized labor who walked the district and made phone calls for me, thank you.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and concerns over the coming months on how we can work to improve the quality of life for 3rd District voters. I will see to it that they get a hearing in the United States Congress.
 
Very truly yours,

John H. Adler
info@adlerforcongress.com

Adler defeats Myers; Third District in New Jersey flips Democratic

By Paul Nussbaum

Inquirer Staff Writer

Democrat John Adler narrowly defeated Republican Chris Myers in the pivotal race for New Jersey's Third Congressional District, a longtime GOP stronghold that drew national attention from both parties this year.

Adler's victory in the South Jersey district, aided by strong Democratic turnout and the retirement of 24-year Republican incumbent Rep. James Saxton, gave New Jersey Democrats an 8-5 edge in the U.S. House delegation, up from 7-6.

But Republicans held onto two other seats considered vulnerable in a Democratic landslide, as GOP candidates won in the Fifth and Seventh Districts in north and central New Jersey.

In other House races in South Jersey, incumbents prevailed: Democrat Rep. Robert Andrews in the First District and Republican Rep. Frank LoBiondo in the Second District. Republican incumbent Rep. Christopher Smith won reelection in central New Jersey's Fourth District.

Democrats maintained their control of both U.S. Senate seats, as incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg handily won reelection.

Adler, a Cherry Hill lawyer and state senator, won a bruising and expensive campaign over Myers, a Lockheed Martin vice president and the mayor of Medford. The seat was one of the GOP seats targeted by national Democratic leaders, who aided Adler with fund-raising, advertising and strategy.

Myers, who got a $65,000 fund-raising boost from President Bush, tried to distance himself from the unpopular president, saying in one ad, "Look, folks, George Bush is part of the problem."

Adler told 500 cheering supporters at the Mount Laurel Marriott last night that he regarded his victory "as a mandate for positive change in society."

He acknowledged his Republican predecessor, Saxton, as "someone who was very special to this region," and he said he would work with Republicans and Democrats.

"I thank all the people who voted for me, and all who didn't vote for me, because we're all Americans," Adler said.

Myers, at the Union Fire Company hall in Medford, told his disconsolate supporters, "It's a bad year to be a Republican."

He said Cherry Hill and Willingboro voted overwhelmingly for Adler, enough to overcome Myers's GOP support in Ocean County.

"I don't think it's any one issue, I just think in general folks wanted a change, and they weren't looking to the Republicans for that change."

Saxton chalked up the change in the district to the momentum Obama created at the top of the ticket.

"Obama tucked New Jersey away weeks ago, and when you have that kind of current running at the top of the ticket, it's hard for anyone. It would have been hard for me for all my 12 terms to compete in this race," Saxton said.

He said he believed the district was still fundamentally Republican, with its military bases, defense contractors and senior citizens, but that many had become disenchanted with President Bush.

Deb Miller, 37, a McCain supporter from Little Egg Harbor Township, said she split her ticket to vote for Adler because she doesn't agree with Myers on several key issues, including the environment.

"I am a registered Republican, but I don't always vote straight down the ticket," Miller said. "I'm very concerned about offshore drilling here."

Lee Myers, of Moorestown, said his support for Obama led him to vote for other Democrats down the ballot, including Adler.

"There's probably not a lot of difference at the end of the day between Adler and Myers, but I want to support Obama's ticket," he said. "There's some coattail politics there."

In the First District, Andrews easily won over Republican Dale Glading, the founder of a prison ministry based in Moorestown. Andrews won despite promising in the spring that he would not run for reelection, when he was trying unsuccessfully to unseat Lautenberg in the Senate primary.

In the Second District, LoBiondo easily warded off a challenge by Democrat David Kurkowski, a Cape May City councilman and market-research consultant. LoBiondo has held the seat since 1995.

In two other districts considered vulnerable to a Democratic tide, Republicans won:

Rep. Scott Garrett defeated Rabbi Dennis Shulman, a blind psychologist, in the Fifth District representing Warren County and parts of Bergen, Sussex and Passaic Counties.

State Sen. Leonard Lance defeated Linda Stender, a state assemblywoman, in the Seventh District in central New Jersey, which covers parts of Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Union Counties. Incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Ferguson, who narrowly defeated Stender in 2006, did not seek reelection.

Adler defeats Myers to become first 3rd District Democrat in 50 years

(Published: Tuesday, November 04, 2008)

11:34 p.m. Update - MOUNT LAUREL - State Senator John Adler, D-Camden, made history Tuesday night when defeated Republican Chris Myers to become the first Democrat elected to represent the 3rd Congressional District in the House of Representatives in more than a century.

Adler edged Myers in the high profile race that has been hotly contested since U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton, R-3rd, announced he was going to retire last November due to health issues. Saxton represented the third district since he was elected to an unexpired term in 1984 to fill a seat vacated by Edwin B. Forsythe, who died in office.

As of 11 p.m. preliminary totals still showed Myers was ahead of Adler by 4,000 voters with 67 percent of the polls reporting. However, Adler said Myers called to concede the election at around 10:15 p.m.

"The call was brief," Adler said. "I thanked him for the ideas he brought to the race and offered him to sit down with me in the upcoming days and share some of those ideas with me, which he graciously accepted."

With the victory, Adler will be the first Democrat to represent the 3rd District since 1882.

When it comes to the economy, John Adler and Chris Myers have very different ideas.

The choice this Election Day is simple: we can either continue the same failed policies or move forward in a new direction. Chris Myers wants to continue George Bush’s failed policies that have created this economic mess. John Adler wants to take us in a new direction.

Adler wants to stop the oil companies from price gouging. Myers wants to continue to give tax breaks to big oil.

Like Bush, Myers supports the Republican plan to give $18 billion in tax breaks to multinational oil conglomerates that outsource American jobs.
(Source: Courier-Post, 8/13/08)

Adler voted to cut income and property taxes. Myers voted for tax increases year after year.

Myers is promising to cut taxes—the same promise he made when he ran for Medford City Council and Mayor. And both times Myers broke his promise—voting to increase taxes by 62% and increase spending by more than $7.8 million.
(Source: Medford Township Budgets, 2002-2008)

And Adler thinks we need to rebuild our infrastructure to create jobs and put people to work.

Myers told voters the economy was ‘basically strong,’ despite massive job losses, a catastrophic mortgage market and a ten trillion dollar national debt. As recently as April, even after the mortgage market collapsed, Chris Myers told a radio audience he thought the economy was “basically strong.” He ignored the fact that New Jersey’s unemployment rate had reached its highest level in five years.
(Sources: WPHT 1210 AM, 4/14/08; Asbury Park Press, 4/19/08, 9/11/08; Star-Ledger, 9/21/08)

On Tuesday, November 4^th join us in the fight for change. Choose new leadership. Choose John Adler.

Learn more about Chris Myers at www.MeetChrisMyers.com

And check out our mail pieces here:

DESPERATE MYERS FLEES SINKING SHIP
President's Proud Cheerleader Suddenly Has Second Thoughts
Contradicts Himself On Bush And Economy

For Immediate Release: October 27, 2008

Contact: Mark Warren, 856.222.9707

Mt. Laurel, NJ – Desperate to save his fading campaign, congressional candidate Chris Myers has scrambled onto one of the last lifeboats fleeing the USS George W. Bush. Myers is frantically trying to escape the sinking GOP ship and its beleaguered skipper, the president, with a cunning but ultimately futile attempt to deny his longstanding support for Bush and the failed policies that pushed our economy over the cliff.

With his election prospects growing more remote by the day, Myers is clinging to the hope that the voters will buy his abrupt 11th-hour flip-flop on George W. Bush. An unabashed cheerleader for the president, Myers finally acknowledged in recent days that Bush is "part of the problem" as the economy continues its freefall and middle-class America fears for its future.

Myers also beat a full retreat from his preposterous claim that the economy is 'basically strong.' Myers now concedes – again, in his own words - that 'the economy stinks.' Finally – with the election about a week away, he admits what the rest of the nation has known for months.

"Chris Myers can try to run from the truth, but he can't hide," said Mark Warren, campaign manager for John Adler, the Democratic candidate in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District. "We've seen time and again that Chris Myers will say just about anything to get elected, but even he has outdone himself with this one. It 's the classic act of a desperate candidate whose campaign is going nowhere. But who in the world would ever believe he's had a last-minute conversion on George Bush? The voters will see right through it."

"Just consider his own words, " Warren said. "With a straight face, Chris Myers looked the voters in the eye and stubbornly insisted for months that the economy was on sound footing and that George W. Bush was an effective president whose failed policies at home and in Iraq were good for the country. Now, again with a straight face, he tells the same voters:  'Never mind,' Bush is part of the problem after all - and, yes indeed, the economy really is in bad shape.

"Either Chris Myers was so out of touch that he believed what he was saying, or he was deliberately deceiving the voters. Either way, his incredulous claims in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary show he does not belong in the United States Congress."

Warren said that voters will recognize the startling about-face by Myers on Bush and the economy for what it is: a blatant political ploy. After all, Myers was the president's handpicked candidate for Congress and has been a staunch defender throughout the campaign of Bush's economic and foreign-policy agenda – taking it on as his own and promising to continue the Bush legacy if elected to Congress.

Like Bush, Myers favors tax breaks for Big Oil, and like Bush, Myers is captive to the corporate lobbyists and Wall Street titans who helped create the current economic upheaval. Just about a month ago the President made a special trip to NJ to raise money for Chris Myers and later that same week several of Bush’s top advisors held another big ticket reception in Washington DC for Myers.  Myers couldn’t cash the checks fast enough.

"If we know anything about Chris Myers, it's that he reads the polls and closely watches which  way the political wind is blowing, " Warren said. "He knows that the voters are embracing John Adler's campaign of serious ideas and promise of strong, bipartisan leadership in Washington, while rejecting the worn-out, partisan finger-pointing practiced by Mayor Myers to distract attention from the issues voters care about."

"Saying one thing about the failed presidency of George W. Bush after spending months saying just the opposite is all-too typical of Chris Myers. But it is not what 3rd District voters deserve in the U.S. Congress."