Indian American Rik Mehta, who unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Cory Booker for his U.S. Senate seat in 2020, and had announced in February 2021 that he will run for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district this year, now plans to run against Democrat Frank Pallone in Congressional District 6.
According to insidernj.com after making plans to run against Democrat Tom Malinowski in CD-7, Mehta, a Republican, now says he wants to run against Pallone, in the wake of a new congressional redistricting map last month.
Mehta, who has been living in Chester, Morris County, said he is relocating to Iselin in Middlesex County, according to the report.
Record voter turnout in the 2020 general election caused Booker to become the highest vote-getter for statewide office in New Jersey history, the New Jersey Globe had reported. At the same time, Mehta received more votes than any other Republican statewide candidate in history after breaking a record set by U.S. Senator Clifford P. Case in 1972, the report said.
Mehta received 1,817,052 votes in his race against Booker, a total that outperformed Republican statewide victors like former governors Chris Christie, Christine Todd Whitman, and Thomas H. Kean, it said.
