Adler Opens Ocean County Office

Democrat Shelley Adler's Ocean County congressional campaign will be based in Brick.

The challenger to incumbent Republican Congressman Jon Runyan will open her Ocean County office Thursday. Adler will appear along with other Democratic officials at the office in the Yorktowne Plaza shopping center on Yorktowne Boulevard, over the border with Toms River, at 6:30 p.m. for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The public will be offerred an evening of "food, fun and refreshments," a flyer announcing the event said.

Adler this spring. She is the wife of the late Democratic Congressman John Adler, who died suddenly in April 2011. He served one term, having been elected in 2008 and defeated in 2010, representing New Jersey's third congressional district, which covered most of Ocean County at the time.

Shelley Adler's campaign could prove more difficult than her late husband's, however, since the latest round of congressional redistricting has left the third district devoid of a Democratic-leaning large town – Cherry Hill – and in possession of a Republican-leaning large town – Brick, which previously was located within the fourth district.

Adler lives in Cherry Hill, but is allowed to run for the seat because she lived there prior to the redistricting process.

Despite some generic trends that would seem to favor Runyan, the race is being considered competitive by pundits. The influential Cook Political Report recategorized the race as "leaning Republican" from "likely Republican," and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has pledged to fund Adler's challenge through its "Red to Blue" initiative which seeks to elect Democrats in districts with incumbent GOP representatives.