Businessman David Larsen kicked off his fourth Republican primary election effort to unseat incumbent Congressman Leonard Lance on Saturday.
Mr. Larsen said he believed “this will be the year” that “frustrated taxpayers” unseat Mr. Lance, whom Mr. Larsen called a “third-generation career politician liberal incumbent.”
Mr. Larsen calls himself a “Reagan conservative.”
The 7th District includes all of Hunterdon County, and parts of Morris, Somerset, Union and Warren counties. Millstone Borough, Hillsborough and Montgomery are in the district.
Mr. Larsen said, “People are clamoring for a true conservative. . . who knows how to run government like a successful business, a person who has proven successful business experience of over 36 years, not a career politician who ran for elected office right out of college, who does not even have the experience of operating a lemonade stand.”
Rep. Lance, who lives in Clinton Township, served in the state Assembly from 1991-2002 before being elected to the state Senate from 2002 to 2008, when he was first elected to Congress. He is seeking his fifth two-year term in Washington.
Mr. Larsen lost to Mr. Lance in a four-way race in 2010, and in head-to-head matchups (60.6-39.4 percent) in 2012 and by a margin of 54.4-45.6 percent in 2014.
“I believe, like the Founding Fathers, that Congress should be made up of citizen legislators-ordinary people who serve their fellow Americans for a brief period of time before returning to private life-not career politicians whose livelihood is tied to perpetual re-election to office,” said Mr. Larsen in a press release.
He added he strongly supported term limits “and will push that legislation when in Washington.”
He pointed to Mr. Lance’s voting record, which he said have brought a 43 percent rating from Conservative Review and 53 percent from the conservative Heritage Action.
Mr. Larsen says he wants to “protect the sanctity of innocent human life from conception to natural death.“ He is a strong supporter of the right to own firearms, and would work to “maintain our military supremacy.”
He wants to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, and would cut spending, he says. He says he would to enact a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that would say taxes cannot be raised without the approval of a super-majority (usually 60 percent) in both chambers of Congress.
According to his research, he said his 2014 race was the third closest primary race in the country.
“I’m not a perennial candidate, I’m a persistent candidate,” said Mr. Larsen. “Lance is the quintessential true perennial and career candidate, running for consecutive office for close to 30 years.“
While attending college, Mr. Larsen founded a construction and home improvement company that was later consolidated into Larsen Windows & Doors. Over the next three decades, he assumed a leadership role in the family business.
Over the years, Mr. Larsen expanded his business to include real estate.
He moved to the Tewksbury Township in Hunterdon County 20 years ago, where he became a registered farmer and bred American quarter horses.
Mr. Larsen has a campaign headquarters on Route 22, Green Brook.
