A third Democrat is entering the race to take on Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) in the 4th congressional district, making for an unexpectedly crowded Democratic primary for New Jersey’s most conservative House seat.
John Blake, a union electrician and Navy veteran from Brick Township, will run next year to unseat Smith, who has represented the 4th district for more than four decades. Blake said that, as someone who’s spent his time in blue-collar jobs rather than in the world of politics, he understands what the residents of Monmouth and Ocean Counties need out of their congressional representative.
“If you’re a normal, everyday guy, and you’re unhappy with the way things are going – no matter who you voted for – and you’re hoping for some kind of reprieve, I’m your guy,” Blake said. “If you’re looking for a guy who’s going to fight for your rights, who’s going to fight for the average, blue-collar American worker, I’m your guy.”
Blake has never run for office before, though he’s the chairman of the veterans’ committee in his local union, the International Brother of Electrical Workers Local 400. He joins a Democratic primary that also includes Julie Flynn, a Rutgers University writing professor, and Keith Doll, a registered nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The 4th district covers some of New Jersey’s most Republican-leaning towns such as Toms River and Lakewood, and Smith – who first got to Congress in 1980 and has been re-elected 22 times since then – is considered the heavy favorite for another term. In 2024, Smith beat a Democratic challenger by a 67% to 32% margin.
Blake, though, accused Smith of being a “rubber stamp” for President Donald Trump’s agenda, particularly faulting him for supporting the controversial Big Beautiful Bill that Trump signed into law over the summer. Trump easily carried the 4th district last year, but Blake said the district should have a representative willing to stand up to the president.
“[Smith has] been asleep behind the wheel,” Blake said. “We need a change, and I’m sure it’s not just the Democratic Party that thinks so. I’m sure there’s a lot of Republicans in this area that are not fond of Chris Smith.”
To accomplish that change, Blake laid out an ambitious and wide-ranging agenda: increasing the availability of single-family housing, boosting Veterans Affairs funding, generating more nuclear power, capping insulin costs, and rethinking the amount of money America sends to the Pentagon and to foreign nations like Israel and Argentina. He also praised New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plans for universal child care, saying he’d like to try out a similar program in New Jersey.
When asked whether, given that agenda, he considers himself a progressive Democrat, Blake said he had another term in mind.
“I’d consider myself to be more of a populist, because I’m about the people and I want everything to be for the people,” he said. “If I can improve the lives of my family, my friends, my community, that would mean the world to me.”
