HILLSBOROUGH: Corfield to make third bid for Assembly in 16th District

By Charles W. Kim, Packet Media Group
   For two state Assembly candidates on opposite sides of the political aisle, its déjà vu all over again.
   Democrat Marie Corfield, a Flemington teacher, said Sunday she is running for the third consecutive year, hoping to unseat either Republican incumbent, Donna Simon or Jack Ciattarelli, in the 16th Legislative District, which includes Hillsborough and Manville.
   ”The third time’s a charm,” Ms. Corfield replied to a Twitter message asking if she would seek the seat once again.
   Ms. Corfield responded from a gathering of Democrats in Princeton, where gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono joined her and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, D-12.
   Assemblywoman Simon defeated Ms. Corfield in November by slightly more than 1,000 votes in an off-year election. In 2011 Ms. Corfield and running mate Joe Camarota, a South Brunswick Township Councilman, lost to Mr. Ciattarelli and incumbent Assemblyman Peter Biondi by about 2,000 votes.
   Mr. Biondi died just two days after the 2011 election, and Republicans in the four counties of the newly configured district appointed Ms. Simon to the seat in 2012.
   Ms. Simon then faced Ms. Corfield for the rest of the unexpired term in November.
   Ms. Simon and Mr. Ciattarelli said in January they would run again.
   The district was re-configured following the 2010 Census and gained the usually Democratic Princeton and South Brunswick in what had been a fairly solid Republican stronghold.
   The 16th District also covers Branchburg and Montgomery townships and Rocky Hill, Millstone and Somerville boroughs in Somerset County; five municipalities in Hunterdon; Princeton in Mercer, and South Brunswick Township in Middlesex.
   In the November election, Ms. Simon easily won Hunterdon County and topped Ms. Corfield by a solid margin in Somerset.
   Ms. Corfield easily won South Brunswick and dominated in Princeton by taking 75 percent of the vote there.
   Ms. Simon said Monday she was aware of the rematch.
   ”I will continue to work diligently with the governor on tax relief and jobs,” Ms. Simon said. “We fought very hard in the last election and we will fight even harder in this one.”
   According to election finance records, Ms. Simon spent more than $500,000 in the campaign, about a 5-1 margin over Ms. Corfield.