TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie is perhaps the nation’s highest-profile Republican — but that’s no guarantee the seat held by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg will switch to GOP hands. In fact, it’s that profile that could help preserve the seat for the Democrats, political observers say.
Christie, widely considered a possible presidential candidate for 2016, needs to decide whether to appoint someone who will merely keep the seat warm — or someone who will seek to keep it in the 2014 election. He also needs to decide whether a Democrat or a Republican is best suited for the seat.
With Lautenberg’s death, the Senate now has 52 Democrats, 45 Republicans and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.
So crucial was Lautenberg’s reliably liberal vote that Democratic leaders twice asked him in recent weeks to return to Washington to vote despite his failing health.
Just last month, Lautenberg made a special trip to the Capitol to supply a key vote that saved President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency from being stalled indefinitely in committee.
In one memorable instance in April, his aides helped push him out onto the Senate floor in his wheelchair to cast much-needed “yes” votes for a package of gun- control legislation.
New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.
If Christie picks a Democrat, it may not play well with Republican presidential primary voters, who could see him as disloyal to his party. But if he picks a Republican, he risks upsetting voters who chose a Democrat for the seat.
Despite the risks, Christie could consider appointing Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat who announced earlier this year plans to run for Lautenberg’s seat in 2014, said Brigid Harrison, a political scientist at Montclair State University. The move could backfire, she said, but it would help Christie’s image with New Jersey Democrats and African-Americans across the country.
