Steven Mark Lonegan (born April 27, 1956) is an American businessman and politician. He served as mayor of

Bogota, New Jersey Bogota is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,187,Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

, Lonegan was named the New Jersey State Chairman for the Ted Cruz 2016 presidential campaign in June 2015. He also served as a national spokesman for the campaign and appeared on various news outlets such as

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...

Fox Business Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenu ...

, CNN, and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

. Lonegan was Director of Monetary Policy for the

American Principles Project The American Principles Project (APP) is a populist conservative 501(c)(4) think tank founded in 2009 by Robert P. George, Jeff Bell, and Francis P. Cannon. It is chaired by Sean Fieler. It is led by Terry Schilling, the son of the late former U. ...

. He served as the organization's national spokesman on monetary policies of the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after ...

and directed the Fix the Dollar project until January 2016. Lonegan lectured across the country to a range of audiences on the history of money and current monetary policy conditions. On February 27, 2015, Lonegan led a team of economists and conservative think tank leaders into a meeting with Federal Reserve Chair

Janet Yellen Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. Yellen is ...

and Federal Reserve officials at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Reserve System. In August 2015, through American Principles Project, Lonegan hosted an international monetary conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that included leaders from around the world and was held directly opposite the Federal Reserve's annual economic symposium. Previously, Lonegan served as the State Director of the New Jersey chapter of

Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...

and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination 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 r ...

in 2005 and 2009. He was the Republican Party's unsuccessful nominee in the October 2013

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to fill New Jersey's open U.S. Senate seat following the death of

Frank Lautenberg Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (; January 23, 1924 June 3, 2013) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was ori ...

Early life and background

Lonegan was born in Holy Name Medical Center in

Teaneck, New Jersey Teaneck () is a township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) f ...

. His grandparents emigrated from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. He graduated from

Ridgefield Park High School Ridgefield Park High School is a six-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grade from Ridgefield Park, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary scho ...

, where he was a football lineman for the Ridgefield Park Scarlets. He went on to play four years at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American j ...

. He was diagnosed with

retinitis pigmentosa Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetic disorder of the eyes that causes loss of vision. Symptoms include trouble seeing at night and decreasing peripheral vision (side and upper or lower visual field). As peripheral vision worsens, people may ...

at the age of 14, and is now legally blind. Lonegan has owned a custom home building business and a cabinet-making business. He served as the state national and finance vice president for the

National Federation of Independent Business The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is an association of small businesses in the United States. It is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. The goal of NFIB is to a ...

. He graduated in 1980 from

William Paterson College William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ...

with a B.A. in Business Administration and in 1981 earned a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

Political career

Mayor of Bogota

In 1995, Lonegan was elected Mayor of

Bogota, New Jersey Bogota is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,187,Democrat Leonard Nicolosi. He was reelected in 1999 and 2003 by double-digit margins. As mayor, he cut municipal spending, merged several municipal departments and privatized some services. Lonegan ordered the municipality to hire civilian dispatchers to answer telephones at police headquarters at lower pay than uniformed officers, angering the local police union; successfully fought the implementation of LOSAP (Length of Service Award Program), which extended pension payments to volunteer fire and rescue personnel; and required that local union contracts exceeding inflation be put to voters for approval. While he was in office, Republicans long in the minority in Democratic-leaning Bogota, controlled the municipal council for 11 straight elections. Lonegan did not seek reelection in 2007, stating a belief in term limits. In 1997, Lonegan became the Republican nominee for

New Jersey State Senator The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

against Democratic incumbent Byron Baer, a 26-year veteran of the state legislature. Running in the 37th legislative district, where no Republican had ever won, Lonegan received 39.3% of the vote, losing to Baer by a 10,301 vote margin. Lonegan then became a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998, challenging freshman Democrat

Steve Rothman Steven Richard Rothman (born October 14, 1952) is an American former jurist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 9th congressional district, serving for 16 years from January 3, 1997, to January 3, 2013. Rothman w ...

New Jersey's 9th congressional district New Jersey's 9th congressional district is represented in Congress by Democrat Bill Pascrell, who resides in Paterson. Congressman Pascrell was first elected in 1996 from the old 8th district (prior to the 2010 census), defeating incumbent Wi ...

. Democrats had held this seat since

Robert Torricelli Robert Guy Torricelli (born August 27, 1951), is an American attorney and former politician. A Democrat, Torricelli served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 9th district from 1983 to 1997 and as a United States sen ...

defeated Republican Harold C. Hollenbeck in 1982. Rothman defeated Lonegan by 43,513 votes, 65%-34%. The 2003 mayoral election in Bogota was chronicled in the documentary '' Anytown, USA''. In 2006, Lonegan filed papers for a public referendum in Bogota on making English the official language for the municipality. The public question was rejected by the County Clerk's office, which is partly responsible for officiating elections, on legal advice that it violated state and federal law. On January 19, 2008, Lonegan was arrested by

New Jersey State Police The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) is the official state police force of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with statewide jurisdiction, designated by troop sectors. History As with other state police organizatio ...

troopers for trespassing at a town hall meeting scheduled by Governor

Jon Corzine Jon Stevens Corzine ( ; born January 1, 1947) is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006 and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran fo ...

at a high school in

Middle Township, New Jersey Middle Township is a township in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area and of South Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 20,380, an increase ...

. Lonegan was standing on the school's lawn protesting when police and school officials asked him to move to a designated protest area and remove a sign he was holding. Police arrested him when he refused. School officials later apologized and the police dropped the charges.

State Director of Americans for Prosperity

From 2007 to 2013, Lonegan served as the New Jersey State Director and Senior Policy Analyst for

, a conservative public policy organization. He resigned to run for U.S. Senate. In 2003, Lonegan formed the group "stopthedebt.com" and filed lawsuits against the State of New Jersey in New Jersey's Supreme Court, challenging state debt sold without voter approval in violation of the state constitution's "debt limitation clause". In its findings against Lonegan and the group, the court stated two reasons for not requiring voter approval of that debt. First, that the debt was issued to finance a constitutional mandate: the requirement that "The Legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of free public schools for the instruction of all children in the State between the ages of five and eighteen years" (Article VIII Section IV). Second, that the debt was technically not backed by the full faith and credit of New Jersey, and future lawmakers could refuse to honor that contract at any time.

Gubernatorial campaigns

Steve Lonegan - Philadelphia Tea Party II 2009

Lonegan ran for the Republican nomination for governor in the state's 2005 election and finished fourth, in a field of 7 with 8.08% of the vote after the nominee, businessman

Doug Forrester Douglas Robert Forrester (born January 24, 1953) is an American businessman and politician from New Jersey. He was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from New Jersey in 2002, and the Republican nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 2005. F ...

, former

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Bret Schundler Bret D. Schundler (born January 14, 1959) is an American Republican politician from New Jersey. Schundler was the mayor of Jersey City from 1992 until 2001. Schundler was the city's first Republican mayor since 1917. He ran for Governor of New ...

and Morris County Freeholder John Murphy and defeated Assembly Majority Leader Paul DeGaetano, Former Freedholder Todd Caliguire and Assemblyman Robert Schroeder. On December 1, 2008, Lonegan announced that he would run for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey, his second run for the seat. Lonegan promised to cut the size of state government by more than 20% and said he would run on the issues of property taxes, school funding and affordable housing. Lonegan sought to run as a conservative alternative to the more liberal candidate, former U.S. Prosecutor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

. On June 2, Lonegan lost the primary to Christie by a 55–44% vote.

2013 U.S. Senate campaign

In June 2013, Lonegan announced that he would run to fill New Jersey's open U.S. Senate seat following the death of Senator

. Lonegan easily won the Republican primary in August 2013, making him the Republican Party's nominee in the October 2013

Lonegan was defeated in the election by Democrat

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. se ...

. He lost by nearly eleven percentage points.

2014 and 2018 U.S. House campaigns

Lonegan announced in October 2013 that he would run in the November 2014 election to represent in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

Jon Runyan had chosen not to run for reelection. Lonegan lost to

Tom MacArthur Thomas Charles MacArthur (born October 16, 1960) is an American former insurance executive and politician. He served as the U.S. representative for from 2015 to 2019. A Republican, MacArthur served on the city council of Randolph, New Jersey, ...

with 40% voting for Lonegan as opposed to MacArthur's 60%. In 2017, Lonegan announced his candidacy for the 2018 elections in against Democratic incumbent

Josh Gottheimer Joshua S. Gottheimer ( ; born March 8, 1975) is an American attorney, writer, and public policy adviser who has served as the U.S. representative for since 2017. The district stretches along the northern border of the state from New York City' ...

. He ultimately lost to former Cresskill Borough Councilman John McCann in the Republican primary.

2016 Ted Cruz Presidential campaign

On December 10, 2015, Lonegan announced his endorsement of

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas fro ...

for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 and became Chairman of Cruz's campaign in New Jersey. Lonegan became Cruz's first major endorsement in New Jersey at a time when New Jersey's own Governor,

, was also a candidate. Lonegan assembled a total of 121 endorsements for Cruz, including Cruz county chairs in all 21 counties. On May 3, 2016, Lonegan described Republican frontrunner

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

as "

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

with a penis".

References

External links

Steve Lonegan on Twitter
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lonegan, Steve 1956 births American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent American politicians with disabilities American non-fiction writers American blind people Blind politicians Fairleigh Dickinson University alumni Living people New Jersey Republicans People from Bogota, New Jersey Ridgefield Park High School alumni William Paterson University alumni Mayors of places in New Jersey Candidates in the 2013 United States elections