New Jersey Political Races, Often Raucous, Are Bananas This Year

New Jersey’s first lady is running for U.S. Senate. A former governor who resigned in disgrace is trying to make a political comeback, as a mayor. Two members of Congress and a half-dozen other political luminaries are preparing to campaign for governor.

The state’s senior U.S. senator and his wife are charged with taking bribes, with a trial in federal court set to begin shortly before the June primary. That has forced the senator’s son, a first-term member of Congress, to fight harder to hold onto his seat.

Campaign cycles in New Jersey are typically raucous and long. They are also frequently entertaining. But the number of high-profile political fights taking shape this year, combined with an array of atypical candidates running under extraordinary circumstances, have set an early, take-your-breath-away pace.

“It really is one of those instances where you have to have a scorecard on hand to keep track of who is in and who is out and who is trying to accomplish what,” Patrick Murray, Monmouth University’s director of polling, said.

Francis J. Giantomasi, an influential Democratic lawyer whose firm works for New Jersey candidates in both political parties, said the current cycle was unlike any he had ever seen.

“The volume of viable candidates, and the volume of contested races, is, in my opinion — and I’ve been doing this for 45 years — at an all-time high,” he said.