WASHINGTON – Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s death Monday creates both peril and opportunity for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
The Republican governor, by state law, gets to appoint the Democratic senator’s replacement and call a special election for a successor to serve until Lautenberg’s term ends in January 2015.
The question of when that special election will be held, however, is the subject of much debate. There are contradictory clauses in the New Jersey statute dealing with vacancies. One would put the special election on Nov. 5, the same day Christie is on the ballot as he seeks a second term as governor. The other is that the special election can’t be held until November 2014.
Political experts in New Jersey say Christie could appoint a close GOP ally to take the place of Lautenberg and give his appointee a running start for the special election. Or Christie could appoint a caretaker or even a Democrat to show bipartisanship. The Senate vacancy comes as Christie is highly touted as a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016.
Christie “basically has to make a bet: Do you try to build national appeal as an independent and someone who can go beyond red-blue divisions, or do you assure national Republicans that you understand how the game is played, and that you’ll be loyal to the party in the end,” said Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.
The governor gave no clue Monday as he eulogized Lautenberg, his occasional nemesis, as a “fighter” and an “honest and dedicated public servant.”
Lautenberg, 89, died of complications from viral pneumonia Monday. He was the last World War II veteran serving in the U.S. Senate and the oldest member of the institution.
One factor: Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat and Christie friend, had announced his intention to run for the Senate in 2014, well before Lautenberg declared he would retire at the end of his fifth term. Booker consistently has led New Jersey polls for the Democratic Senate nomination.
New Jersey has run blue in presidential elections, and political handicappers such as the Cook Political Report have rated the 2014 Senate race as “likely Democrat.”
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