The New Jersey Conservative Party, formerly abbreviated as the NJCP, now the CP-NJ, is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

political party in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Ideology

The NJCP advocates for low taxes, a

balanced budget A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budge ...

and job growth, the right to own

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or ...

, limiting

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

to individuals, ending government-supported

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

, and limiting

foreign aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...

. It favors

states' rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...

, a strong military,

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

laws, and term limits for

congressmen A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

. It supports a national holiday for

Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ar ...

Membership

According to the New Jersey Division of Elections (part of the

New Jersey Department of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing artistic, cultural, and historical programs within the U.S. state of New Jersey, as we ...

), there were 154 registered Conservative Party members statewide on October 20, 2008. Membership in the party grew five-fold in 2015-2016; as of March 2016, there were 814 registered members,https://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/assets/pdf/svrs-reports/2016/2016-03-voter-registration-by-county.pdf and by November 2016, there were 3,516. Membership grew again in 2018; in February there were 7,371 registered voters, and as of July 2018, there were 8,447. As of February 2019, there are 10,610 registered members.

History

In the 1963 election for

New Jersey Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

a number of candidates ran as "Conservative". The New Jersey Conservative Party was created in 1992 by Tom Blomquist, who had run as candidate for

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official res ...

in the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and 1993 gubernatorial elections. The NJCP received the endorsement of

United We Stand America United We Stand America was the name selected by Texas businessman H. Ross Perot for his citizen action organization after his 1992 independent political campaign for President of the United States. Perot's 19% showing in the 1992 election was su ...

H. Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot (; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an inde ...

's citizen action organization in 1995. In 1995, the party ran approximately 60 candidates for the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

, none of whom won. the party broke the record for the most third party candidates during one election in the history of New Jersey. This helped lead the NJCP to receiving 117,219 votes. However, in order to earn official third-party status from the state, the party was required to bring in at least 10% of the total vote; a number it did not meet. The party considered changing its name in support of Perot's presidential candidacy. In 1997, the Conservative Party and other members of the Council of Alternative Political Parties filed suit against the state regarding filing deadlines and the number of signatures needed to do so. The party ran candidates in every district in New Jersey in the midterm 1998 United States House of Representatives elections. In 1999, New Jersey Conservative Party and three of its individual members who were candidates for elective office filed a certified complaint to enjoin county clerks, from drawing separate political party columns for the Democratic and Republican parties on the official ballot. The party also brought an appeal to the

Supreme Court of New Jersey The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases ...

regarding preferential ballot positions for the Republican and Democratic parties compared to the NJCP. Historically, the Republican and Democratic candidates were given top spots on the ballot, and the NJCP argued that low voter turn-out led to these parties not even receiving the 10% vote minimum (out of all registered voters for that cycle) to proceed to the general vote. However, the court ruled to reject the application. In 2000, the New Jersey Conservative Party was involved in a lawsuit that permitted New Jersey voters to join third parties. Until 2001 New Jersey did not allow registering to vote as anything other than Democrat, Republican, or Independent. This was ruled unconstitutional in 2001 after a lawsuit was brought by a coalition of political parties, including the NJCP. In 2009 the State Chairman Stephen Spinosa asked registered members to change their party affiliation to Republican so they could vote for

Steve Lonegan Steven Mark Lonegan (born April 27, 1956) is an American businessman and politician. He served as mayor of Bogota, New Jersey, from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, Lonegan was named the New Jersey State Chairman for the Ted Cruz ...

for Governor. (Spinosa had run for office as NJCP candidate, twice for State and once for Congress between 1997 and 1999). By doing so he effectively called for the suspension, though not dissolution, of his third-party movement in order to boost Lonegan's chances. On February 19, 2010, the New Jersey Conservative Party signed an affiliation agreement with the national Conservative Party USA. By February 20, the New Jersey affiliate turned over their party membership to the national party for management in accordance with the affiliation agreement. Dr. Steven Maness (who had run as Conservative Party candidate for Middlesex County Freeholder in 1998) assumed New Jersey party leadership on December 30. In January 2019, Martin Marks, former mayor of Scotch Plains, announced his independent candidacy for the

New Jersey's 21st Legislative District New Jersey's 21st Legislative District is one of 40 in the New Jersey Legislature. As of the 2011 apportionment, the district includes the Morris County communities of Chatham Borough and Long Hill Township; the Somerset County municipalities ...

, under the banner of "Conservative" in the 2019 New Jersey elections.

References

External links

New Jersey Conservative Party Home Page
{{United States state and local political parties Political parties established in 1992 Defunct state and local conservative parties in the United States

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Regional and state political parties in the United States 1992 establishments in New Jersey

Ideology

Membership

History

See also

References

External links