The race for U.S. Senate isn’t all about the Democrats. Two Republicans are running in the August primary for the chance to fight for the Senate seat left vacant by the late Frank Lautenberg. Candidate Alieta Eck told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that while she lags in the polls behind Steve Lonegan, she is getting a lot of grassroots support and positive feedback.
Eck said she has been impressed with the campaign response and how people want to help. But the poll numbers haven’t been too good for her. The latest Quinnipiac poll about the Senate race shows Lonegan leading Eck 62 percent to 5 percent. Eck said that comes down to name recognition.
“When people realize that they have a choice, they’re gonna be asking — those who are going to vote are going to be asking — ‘Who am I choosing between?’ and so they’ll look. With Facebook and with Twitter and e-mails, … the name is getting out,” Eck said.
Lonegan also leads Eck in the amount of money raised for the campaign, but Eck points out that she has only been on the ballot for two weeks and is starting from scratch. She said she is actively fundraising with positive results. “We just have a lot of support coming in that I think is gonna make a difference,” she said.
Eck said she has solutions rather than just definitions of problems, which distinguishes her in the Senate race. She said she has a solution for the Medicaid program, which she believes is important since entitlement programs will take up the entire budget in the next few years and add debt to future generations.
“We’ve had a free clinic, we take care of the poor and the uninsured already at a cost of only $13 per patient visit and we contrast that with the Medicaid system which is $13 billion in the state budget that’s $33 billion. It’s a huge amount of money that we’re spending on paperwork and administration and not providing care to the poor,” Eck said.
Eck said that her plan would explode across the country and protect physicians who donate time in clinics. “We’re getting back to real community. Communities helping communities. People helping their neighbors and not just a big, giant government program that’s impersonal and lots of forms to fill out. Instead help people where they are,” she said.
Eck had invited people to visit the Zarephath Health Center, which she runs, but then rescinded the invitation. She said the reason for rescinding the formal invitation was because of her campaign and the concern that it would turn into some sort of campaign violation. But she said people are welcome to see the clinic any time.
Eck has always been part of the Republican Party because of her belief in smaller, less intrusive government. She said she likes Gov. Chris Christie, though she doesn’t agree with him on every issue.
“The smaller government idea makes sense to me, but we gotta really solve the problems and not just make a smaller government that leaves people flapping in the breeze. Instead we have to have real solutions for them,” Eck said.
While she is behind Lonegan in the polls and in fundraising, Eck said four weeks offers a lot of time to accomplish her goals.
“I’m going out to talk with a lot of people and then they’re telling their friends. And every place I go people seem to be excited about it. And the other thing is, when they get to know me, I have a very high favorability and there’s really not a lot of negatives that people are coming up with about me,” Eck said.
Related: Senate Hopeful Lonegan Says He Can Beat Any Democrat