Henry Helstoski

New Jersey Republicans have nine non-incumbent candidates for Congress in 2008, the most since 1976 when the state's House delegation had a 12-3 Democratic majority.  For the last decade, New Jersey Democrats have held a 7-6 majority in the House.

Here's a brief history of the party turnover of New Jersey House seats:

Superior Court Judge Harold Hollenbeck will reach the mandatory retirement age of seventy on December 29, possibly ending a career in public service that began with his election to the East Rutherford Borough Council in 1966. But some Republican insiders say that Hollenbeck could be the GOP’s strongest candidate to challenge Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney in 2010.

Hollenbeck was elected to the State Assembly in 1967, at the age of 29, as part of a Republican sweep of Bergen County in the second mid-term election of Democratic Gov. Richard Hughes. After two terms in the Assembly, he won a State Senate seat in 1971.

A former chicken farmer and radio station owner from Vineland, Elmer Wene was appointed to the State Board of Agriculture by Democratic Governor George Silzer in 1925 and served their for nine years. He was elected to Congress in 1936, unseating twelve-term Republican Congressman Isaac Bacharach, partly on the coattails of Franklin Roosevelt's re-election victory against Alfred Landon.

One of the great stories about New Jersey politics in the mid 1970's was the one about Byron Baer and how he came excruciatingly close to winning a congressional seat 28 years ago.

The Congressman from the 9th district was Henry Helstoski, a six-term Democrat with a trademark crew cut who made his mark as an opponent of the Vietnam War. Helstoski was the 39-year-old Mayor of East Rutherford when he beat a nine-term Republican incumbent by 2,428 votes in the Democratic landslide of 1964. Amidst the violence of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Helstoski turned his Chicago hotel room into an infirmary for Eugene McCarthy delegates and volunteers who were injured during the anti-war demonstrations. He ran for Governor in 1969, becoming a candidate just thirty minutes before the filing deadline, and finished second in the Democratic primary for Governor.

The appointment of Bob Menendez to the United States Senate would trigger a series of musical chairs in Hudson County. Albio Sires is the most likely candidate to replace Menendez in Congress, which would create two more vacancies: the 33rd district State Assembly seat, and Sires' post as Mayor of West New York. If Sal Vega moves up to Mayor and/or Assemblyman, that would mean additional vacancies on the Hudson County Board of Freeholders and on the West New York Board of Commissioners.

If Sires goes to Congress, he would become the first Assembly Speaker to win a House seat since Joseph LeFante moved up in 1976. Thomas Kean lost a congressional primary in 1974 (by 86 votes to Millicent Fenwick) and Peter Moraites was defeated by Henry Helstoski in 1968 -- prior to his conviction on corruption charges.