Senate Candidates Unite For Democratic Party

Democratic candidates for a vacant U.S. Senate seat set aside their differences for a couple of hours Saturday morning in the name of party unity during a rally of the party faithful in New Brunswick.

U.S. Reps. Rush Holt and Frank Pallone and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who along with state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver are locked in a primary election fight for the Senate seat of former Sen. Frank Lautenberg, attended a Democratic Unity Breakfast, held at the Heldrich Hotel.

More than 400 packed the standing-room-only conference room to hear party members and dignitaries talk about marriage equality, voting rights, fair wages and other uniting principles of the Democratic Party.

The rally also served to shore up party support for state Sen. Barbara Buono’s bid to topple Gov. Chris Christie in November. Buono, the featured speaker, vowed to beat Christie in the upcoming election and put an end to his “reign of terror.”

Buono criticized Christie’s decisions to veto a marriage equality bill, to call the Supreme Court’s ruling gutting the Defense of Marriage Act “insulting,’’ and to veto a bill on Friday that Buono said would have extended Medicaid benefits to poor women.

“I think it’s time to say ‘enough is enough,’’’ Buono said. “If Chris Christie wants to appeal to the conservatives in the cornfields of Iowa, so be it. Because the people of Iowa City – they ain’t voting Nov. 5. Not in New Jersey, anyway.”

Although Booker, Holt and Pallone – as well as Oliver, who did not attend -- each were praised by speakers throughout the morning, none took the podium and none were there to stump for their campaigns.

“I really hope that more people get to hear Senator Buono’s message,’’ Holt said. “Because people who hear it, come away believers.’’