MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP, NJ (Morris County) – Former Passaic County Assistant Prosecutor and Montville Township resident Paul DeGroot Thursday formally entered the June 7 Republican Primary Election for the party’s nomination for New Jersey’s new 11th congressional district.
DeGroot filed his nominating petitions today in Trenton, with 340 signatures from registered Republicans in the three-county district that covers parts of Morris, Essex and Passaic Counties.
DeGroot will run on the official GOP line in Passaic County – the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization. In Morris and Essex counties, DeGroot is running under the slogan A Republican Fighter Who Can Win.
DeGroot says he has the skills and perspective to appeal to Republican and Independent voters who are fed up with Washington Progressive policies.
“The Democrat Progressives’ have turned their extreme agenda and the war on fossil fuels into a national economic disaster for working people. Unlike the Democratic incumbent in CD-11, Mikie Sherril, I will go to Washington to represent the middle class – not beat them into submission,” DeGroot said.
DeGroot, a former Chief Assistant Prosecutor for the Homicide, Narcotics and Government Corruption divisions; said public safety is one of the primary concerns he will carry to Congress; one that he is uniquely qualified to address. “I battled crime and criminals for 25 years and worked with government officials on the local, county, state and federal level. No one else in the Republican Primary has that kind experience,” said DeGroot.
“I oppose the revolving door justice that local and national Democrats have saddled us with that is emboldening criminals to prey on law abiding people,” DeGroot said.
Besides public safety, DeGroot lists among his top priorities, American energy independence; battling inflation, border security and parental rights.
A conservative political outsider, DeGroot prides himself on not being a career politician. “I owe nothing to any donor or political boss, and I’m not looking to make Congress my second career,” said DeGroot. “I want to go to Congress to help put America back on the right path.”
DeGroot and his wife Sharon have two young children, which gives him a perspective other candidate do not have.
“Like many parents in the district, Sharon and I are deeply concerned about what our children are learning in school. I support parents’ rights to have a significant say in what is being taught in the classroom and I will carry that message to Washington,” DeGroot said.
