By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican state Sen.Kip Bateman quit the race, and was replaced by a divorce lawyer who ran for Hillsborough Township Committee last year., Zenon Christodoulou, of Brancburg, had work and family issues that would not give him the time to devote to running against Bateman, said campaign spokesman Matt Matzen on Monday. His departure opened the door for Laurie C. Poppe to run for the seat and join the ticket of incumbent Assemblyman Andrew P. Zwicker and Assembly candidate Roy Freiman in the 16th District, made up of parts of Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex and Hunterdon counties., Poppe will challenge Bateman, while Zwicker and Freiman will face former Assemblywoman Donna Simon and Somerset County Freeholder Mark Caligure., A spokesman for the GOP ticket could not be reached for comment., Christodoulou’s exit was the “change” that Zwicker had hinted at shortly after he, Freiman and Christodoulou were endorsed in February by the Middlesex County Democratic Party. Christodoulou notified Middlesex County Democratic Chairman Kevin McCabe, in a March 1 letter, that he was leaving the race, Matzen said., This is not the first race he has entered and dropped out of. In 2010, he ran for Congress briefly, but is best known as a fundraiser for the Democratic Party.
