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Nearly three dozen independent candidates have filed to run for Congress in New Jersey, the most since 67 independents ran in 1992.

The total 34 could go up by one if Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) wins an upcoming legal battle to overturn the states ban on fusion voting as the candidate of both the Democratic and Moderate parties.

The Libertarian Party has fielded a full slate of twelve candidates for Congress in New Jersey, the first time any minor party has done so since the Libertarians ran candidates for all 13 House seats in 1992.

While candidates typically need 200 signatures to get on the ballot as a congressional candidate in a primary or general election, an obscure 1948 statute allows independents running only in a congressional redistricting year to file with just 50 signatures.

The law came at a time when there was a mad rush to get on the ballot in redistricting years between the approval of the congressional map and the filing deadline. In those days, the deadline for independent candidates was the same as for those running in the primary. That was changed about 25 years ago,after minor parties filed a lawsuit.

The 2022 independent candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, with the slogans:

1st District: Allen Cannon (Cannon Fire); Patricia Kline (For the People), Isaiah Fletcher (Libertarian). Kline was the Republican candidate for State Assembly in 2021.

2nd District: Michael Gall (Libertarian); Anthony Parisi Sanchez (Not for Sale). Sanchez ran against Jeff Van Drew for State Senate in 2017 and Congress in 2018.

3rd District: Gregory Sobocinski (God Save America); Christopher Russomanno (Libertarian); Lawrence Hatez (Returning Your Rights).

4th District: Jason Cullen (Libertarian); Hank Schroeder (No Slogan); Pam Daniels (Progress with Pam); and David Schmidt (We The People). Cullen was the Libertarian candidate for governor in 2009 and finished sixth in a field of 12 candidates with 2,869 votes statewide. Schroeder has lost seven races in nine years: governor in 2013, U.S. Senate in 2014 and 2018; State Assembly in the 30th district in 2015 and 2019; and Congress in 2016 and 2020.

5th District: Louis Vellucci (American Values); Jeremy Marcus (Libertarian); David Abrams (Stop Israel Boycotts); Trevor James Ferrigno (Together We Stand).

6th District: Tara Fisher (Libertarian); Eric Antisell (Move Everyone Forward); Inder Jit Soni (New Jersey First).

7th District: Clayton Pajunas (Libertarian); Veronica Fernandez (Of, By, For). Fernandez ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 and won 32,290 votes, less than one percent.

8th District: Pablo Olivera (Labors Party); Dan Delaney (Libertarian); David Cook (The Mediator/People Over Parties/Vote Real Change); Joanne Kuniansky (Socialist Workers Party); and John Salierno (Truth and Merit). Kuniansky was her partys candidate for governor in 2021. Olivera has lost his twelve previous campaigns: State Senate in the 29th district in 2003, 2013 and 2017; Newark City Council in the North Ward in 2010, 2014 and 2018; Essex County Freeholder in 2011; U.S. Senate in 2013; and State Assembly in 2015; and Congress in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

9th District: Sean Armstrong (Libertarian); Lea Sherman (Socialist Workers Party).

10th District: Cynthia Johnson (Jobs and Justice); Kendal Ludden (Libertarian); Rev. Clenard J. Childress, Jr. (The Mahali Party); and Dorothy Jane Humphries (Together We Can). Childress has lost nine races for State Assembly in the 34th district.

11th District: Joseph Biasco (Libertarian).

12th District: Lynn Genrich (Libertarian).

Of the 34 independent congressional candidates, 20 of them filed with under 100 signatures something that makes them susceptible to a petition challenge and only one, Genrich in NJ-12, filed with 200 signatures or more. Two candidates, Hatez (NJ-3) and Humphries (NJ-10), filed with exactly 50 signatures.

The deadline to repair technical deficiencies on petitions is 4 PM today; candidates may not add additional signatures past the June 7 filing deadline

The deadline to challenge the petitions of independent candidates is 4 PM on June 13. Administrative Law judges move quickly; the deadline to decide challenges to the petitions is June 16.

In 2012, 29 independent candidates filed, the same as in 2016. There were 24 independent House candidates in 2014 and 2018, and 15 in 2020.

No independent candidate has been viewed as a spoiler in a New Jersey congressional race since 2000, when Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell) won re-election to a second term by just 651 votes against former Rep. Richard Zimmer (R-Delaware). In that race, 8,269 votes went to three independent candidates: Carl Mayer, a former Princeton Township Committeeman running on the Green Party ticket, received 5,811 votes, while NJ Conservative Party nominee John Desmond took 1,233 votes and 1,225 went to Worth Winslow, the Libertarian candidate.

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34 independent candidates file to run for Congress in New Jersey, most in 30 years - New Jersey Globe | New Jersey Politics