State Senator-elect Jennifer Beck is now in the spotlight statewide, pundits say.
‘Ridiculously outspent’ and yet victorious in Tuesday’s election, state Senator-elect Jennifer Beck of Red Bank is now — wait for it — a GOP pol to watch for higher office, today’s Star-Ledger reports.
One pundit is even forecasting two decades into the Beckian future.
“You’d have to say she’s one of the rising stars in the Republican Party, without a doubt,” said Joseph Marbach, chairman of the political science department at Seton Hall University.
“Jennifer Beck is going to be someone you’re going to hear a lot about in the next 20 years,” Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson said. “I don’t think you could rule out seeing her as a statewide candidate some day. I don’t think you could rule out seeing her as a congressional candidate some day.”
Beck, 40, who handily defeated Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth) in the 12th District, spent yesterday returning congratulatory phone calls. She said she was also recovering from a grueling campaign — and a victory celebration that went “pretty late.”
The senator-elect brushed aside speculation about her future.
“I am solely focused on working in the state Senate,” said Beck, who is finishing her first term in the Assembly. “We’ve got a lot facing us in the next four years. I look forward to being part of the solution.”
The speculation about Beck’s ambitions and future is nothing new, of course. Few who meet her can resist the thought that all her rigorous physical training — she’s a triathlete — is somehow also a kind of preparation for a marathon climb up the political ladder.
So naturally, at that ‘victory celebration’ alluded to above (it was at the Dublin House), redbankgreen asked Beck about her newfound higher profile and personal goals.
“I never thought I was going to make it to the state Senate,” she said, a celebratory pint in hand. “To me, this is it. This is where I want to be.”
The final tally, by the way, shows Beck took 54 percent of the 12th district votes, to Karcher’s 46 percent.
More from the Sledger:
Beck’s win was the more remarkable because she was ridiculously outspent; preliminary figures show per-vote spending of $85 by Karcher compared to $11.49 by Beck. As in her 2005 Assembly race, Beck surmounted relentlessly negative ads that attacked her ethics, her prior work as a lobbyist and even her driving record. She was the only Republican to defeat an incumbent Democratic senator and she carried her two Assembly running mates into office with her.
Beck served from 1999 until 2006 on the Borough Council of Red Bank, a Democratic town where she was the first Republican to be elected in a decade. “That very much prepared me for the difficult campaign of 2005 and the one I just went through,” Beck said. “I had some big calluses going into the Assembly race of 2005.”
She also knew her way around the Statehouse, as a lobbyist from 1999 until 2004 and as chief of staff to Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina (R-Monmouth) from 1993 to 1997.
Ingrid Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics, said part of Beck’s formula for success is her “approachable and vivacious” personality that helped deflect the negative ads this fall.
“A lot of people felt they knew her and therefore the charges weren’t as plausible as if they were about someone they had never met,” Reed said.
Marbach said Beck’s future depends in part on what other, more senior Republicans decide to do.
“The biggest star is certainly still (U.S. Attorney) Chris Christie,” Marbach said. “Whether he capitalizes on that remains to be seen.”
Beck this year showed she is not one to back away from a fight, gambling a safe Assembly seat on a very risky challenge to Karcher.
“Jennifer’s very competitive,” Wilson said. “Here’s someone who went to college on a track scholarship. She was born to run.”
She's fantastic, and might I add, gorgeous! Congratulations, facha bella mia! You are on your way to being one of the best legislators in the state and a potential future Gubernatorial candidate! The state needs a beautiful Governor now more than ever!
"I don't think you could rule out seeing her as a statewide candidate some day." Some day?! How about next year? She's already a full-time politician (on "sabbatical" from her job at QualCare).
I'm expecting to see her run against Pallone in 2010. The only reason I'm not sure she'll run is that she is likely to lose in this Democratic district. And she's never lost, which is a nice record to have.
Today's Asbury Park Press states that Karcher lost because of the Beck Xmas tree farmer attack. (Not that it was the only factor, but it was the deciding factor.) Alas, another victory for negative campaigning.
Karcher certainly went negative, but she should have launched an attack pointing out that Beck's property taxes went down this year. That would make people more angry than talking about some ancient parking tickets.
Dan,
Ellen started the negative campaign and we just mopped the floor with her ugly face. I know the fake farm was a big deal and rightfully so, that is why on Red Bank Green we brought it up everytime we posted. It just showed her true colors which is to rip-off the people she is suppose to be helping. Hopefully we have ended her political career so she can fake farm or become Ellie Ramone. We also had God on our side because Ellen did not embrace God like Jennifer did. Happy Holidays and don't forget to get your Christmas tree from Karcher's Fake Christmas Tree Farm. Thank you.
How exciting! Jen won. And good luck to her. But let's be honest with ourselves. It's not going to make a damned bit of difference. Neither the voters themselves nor the people we elect have the political will to make the changes necessary to bring the state back to solvency.
Every program has a constituency who will fight for its continued funding and provide the votes for the legislators who cannot tell them No. So we're left with trivial issues like dual office holding and council members' medical benefits which combined won't save a nickel per $100 of the cost of government.
Another ambitous power hungry politician wins and the first thing we hear about is there next step up the ladder. The only core belief these politicians hold is the belief that it is there destiny to be elected. Its all about the ego.
It does not matter which party is in power they are both fiscally irresponsible and neither respects life or family.
One poster said God was on our side. I do not think God wanted any thing to do with this election. Tails We loose Heads they win.
Dear Disgusted Republican,
God loves Jennifer because she mentioned my name in an interview and looks like a Catholic School girl. Thank you.
Didn't Beck just get divorced? Didn't she make some sort of reference to "that special man in my life" or something like that during her victory speech?
Divorced is the least of the problems. How about this list,Profesional Lobbyist, Supported stem cell iniative, pro abortion, pro marriage rights for homosexuals.
Yeah she voted against some spending and taxes. Wonder if her vote would have been the same if the Republicans were in power.
I doubt it.
Disgusted Republican,
Jennifer is an independent minded liberal Republican who likes the color blue and hates fake farmers. What is wrong with that?
Jennifer Beck, if she still considers herself a Catholic, is not eligible to receive Holy Communion — at least not in the Diocese of Trenton. Bishop Smith, like many Bishops across the country, has instructed his priests to deny communion to any Catholic politician that is pro-abortion. In short, Beck has excommunicated herself.
Is Bishop Smith also denying Catholic politicians that are pro-corruption?
Seems lately, the convicted ones are spending more time in church these days.
"Divorced is the least of the problems. How about this list,Profesional Lobbyist, Supported stem cell iniative, pro abortion, pro marriage rights for homosexuals."
Will that hold her back? As I was reading that list, I was thinking that all those statements also apply to Giuliani, and he's doing pretty well in the Republican party. Or has Rudy flip-flopped on the social issues to pander to the evangelicals?
God has said repeatedly on this site that he loves Jennifer Beck. She has not been excommunicated. Jennifer understands that the Catholic Church is stuck in the 1600's and needs to get more into the 21st century. If you have ever been to a Catholic Church they do not have a gate keeper to prevent people from getting communion. It is up to the individual if they feel receiving it. The important thing in all of this is that Jennifer believes in God and can worship God any way she so pleases.
I won't be voting for Guiliani either.