N.J. Republican Faces Tough Re-Election Over Firm’s #MeToo Gaffe

(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey’s Assembly minority leader may be facing his toughest re-election race amid outrage over his law firm’s marketing to defendants of sexual-assault claims.

The Nov. 5 election, in the wealthy 21st Legislative District, pits incumbent Minority Leader Jon Bramnick and fellow Republican Nancy Munoz, with more than a decade in office, against Democrats Lisa Mandelblatt and Stacey Gunderman, who seek to strengthen their party’s majority in Trenton.

The two Democrats running in the 21st District as of Nov. 1 had spent $714,200 while Bramnick and Munoz had spent a combined $664,600, according to New Jersey Election Law Enforcement filings. The Democrats also gained a free publicity boost by criticizing Bramnick’s law firm, whose website advertised to sexual-assault defendants that its attorneys would “investigate your case and seek to discredit your accuser.”

“It’s just so dismissive to women who are taking the courage to come forth,” Gunderman said.

All of New Jersey’s 80 Assembly seats are open. Each district has two spots. Democrats, with 54 seats, have a more than 2-to-1 advantage over Republicans, and historically the incumbents have won. Democrats also hold the state Senate and the governor’s office.

‘Out of Line’

The New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault said the wording on the law firm’s website suggested that “all survivors of sexual assault are lying,” and could discourage victims from filing criminal complaints. Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said the site’s phrasing was “way, way out of line.”

Bramnick, in an interview, called the approach a sound legal strategy for falsely accused defendants. The language got wide attention from a media hungry for internet clicks, he said.

“They talk about one page of my 1,000-page law firm website,” Bramnick said. The page was removed, he said, “once we realized it was written poorly.”

The incident may not be so easily overlooked, though, at a time when the #MeToo movement is empowering assault victims like never before, according to Brigid Harrison, a Montclair State University political science professor.

“Voters might understand that a partner in a law firm probably might not be vetting everything that appears on his website,” Harrison said in an interview. “But for voters for whom sexual harassment matters -- men and women -- they will weigh this as being reprehensible in this environment.”

The 21st Legislative District includes 16 towns, some of them among the state’s wealthiest. Mandelblatt, 55, an attorney, and Bramnick, 66, live in Westfield. Munoz, 65, a registered nurse, is from Summit. Gunderman, 39, a retirement-community saleswoman, is from New Providence.

Though the district has 5,200 more registered Democrats than Republicans, unaffiliated voters are the majority. Recent Assembly races have been tight, with Republican candidates winning by 5,600 votes in 2017 -- the year that four incumbents on Bramnick’s all-Republican hometown council were defeated by Democrats. In the 2015 Assembly race, Bramnick and Munoz won by 7,000 votes. Just two years earlier, their victory margin was 34,600.

The district’s Democratic candidates this time may benefit from voter disgust with Republican President Donald Trump, whose conduct -- including remarks about assaulting women -- made him unpopular in New Jersey well before the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 31 approved an impeachment inquiry.

“Stacey and I wouldn’t be talking to you right now if Trump hadn’t been elected,” Mandelblatt said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman

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