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John Morrison (New Jersey)
John Morrison (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New Jersey's 4th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Morrison completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
John Morrison was born in Edison, New Jersey. Morrison's career experience includes working as a teacher. He earned a bachelor's degree from Penn State University in 2010 and a graduate degree from Monmouth University in 2012.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: New Jersey's 4th Congressional District election, 2024
New Jersey's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Republican primary)
New Jersey's 4th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 4 Democratic primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House New Jersey District 4
Incumbent Chris Smith defeated Matthew Jenkins, John Morrison, and Barry Bendar in the general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 4 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Chris Smith (R) | 67.4 | 265,652 |
 | Matthew Jenkins (D)  | 31.7 | 124,803 | |
 | John Morrison (L) | 0.5 | 1,950 | |
 | Barry Bendar (G) | 0.5 | 1,823 | |
| Total votes: 394,228 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 4
Matthew Jenkins advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 4 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matthew Jenkins | 100.0 | 25,389 |
| Total votes: 25,389 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Pam Daniels (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 4
Incumbent Chris Smith defeated David Schmidt in the Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 4 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Chris Smith | 84.7 | 36,219 |
 | David Schmidt | 15.3 | 6,538 | |
| Total votes: 42,757 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Morrison in this election.
2023
See also: New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2023
General election
General election for New Jersey General Assembly District 13 (2 seats)
Incumbent Victoria A. Flynn and incumbent Gerard Scharfenberger defeated Danielle Mastropiero, Paul Eschelbach, and John Morrison in the general election for New Jersey General Assembly District 13 on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Victoria A. Flynn (R) | 28.9 | 30,744 |
| ✔ |  | Gerard Scharfenberger (R) | 28.6 | 30,474 |
| Danielle Mastropiero (D) | 21.1 | 22,440 | ||
| Paul Eschelbach (D) | 20.3 | 21,655 | ||
| John Morrison (L) | 1.2 | 1,241 | |
| Total votes: 106,554 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 13 (2 seats)
Danielle Mastropiero and Paul Eschelbach advanced from the Democratic primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 13 on June 6, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Danielle Mastropiero | 95.5 | 5,335 | |
| ✔ | Paul Eschelbach (Write-in) | 4.5 | 250 | |
| Total votes: 5,585 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Koby Biran (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 13 (2 seats)
Incumbent Victoria A. Flynn and incumbent Gerard Scharfenberger advanced from the Republican primary for New Jersey General Assembly District 13 on June 6, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Victoria A. Flynn | 50.1 | 6,330 |
| ✔ | | Gerard Scharfenberger | 49.9 | 6,295 |
| Total votes: 12,625 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Morrison in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
John Morrison completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Morrison's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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He attended Penn State University earning a Bachelor’s Degree in History, before attending Monmouth University where he obtained a Masters in Arts in Teaching.
John has been a US History and Journalism teacher in the Carteret School District since 2013, teaching 6th, 7th, & 8th grade.
Becoming a Libertarian in 2015, John has since become an active member New Jersey’s Libertarian Party, culminating in running for State Legislature in 2023 for New Jersey’s 13th District.
After a decade plus teaching History, John is prepared to make some of his own, bringing actual change to NJ-04 where the Government works for you, and not the other way around.- Term Limits: Our founders did not include term limits because they could not fathom a time where one person would be willing to or voted into power for decades at a time. We have term limits for our highest elected official, yet do not have the same for those in Congress or the Senate. This allows the few to consistently assert their power onto the many. This also allows our elected officials to abuse their positions for their own financial gain. My first order of business would be to sponsor or show my full support to any bill that would immediately impose term limits.
- Limited Government/USA First Policy: Our national debt is an non-stop train heading north. The Republican party used to be the party of limited Government, and now, even when they vote against bills for Federal funding, they'll happily accept those funds even at the expense of their own constituents. We need to put the United States first, keep our taxpayer dollars here for our own infrastructure before we consider sending a penny elsewhere.
- Free Speech: We do not need to agree with or like anyone's opinions or statements. We have the ability as human beings to choose to consume the content we are presented. If we cut ourselves off from everything we find offensive or against our own stances, than we will have learned nothing. Limiting speech, and censorship of any kind goes against the basic principles of our country.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Interview with The Two River Times
Morrison highlighted the following themes in an interview with The Two River Times on October 24, 2024. The questions from The Two River Times are bolded and Morrison's responses follow below.[2]
| “ |
TRT: Why are you seeking election? If elected, what issues and policies would you like to focus on in your term and which are most important to you? Morrison: “I ran a year ago for General Assembly and I really got the bug to do it again because I actually had a lot of fun doing the campaign, speaking to as many people as I possibly can,” he said. “It kind of started as a bucket list thing to run for office, and I did much better than I was told I was going to do. One thing led into the next and I saw the Congressional district was up in 2024, so that was just my next logical step to continue my progression in running for public office,” he explained. “I’m a U.S. history teacher. I have a long love and passion for civics and history and political science. And this was something that was kind of like a next logical step, by experiencing it firsthand, this process, doing it from the candidate’s point of view and going through this process. (It’s) something that I’ll be able to speak on for years to come, just exactly what this is from the perspective of somebody running,” Morrison said. Addressing the issues which matter most to him, Morrison said his “first order of business” is to implement term limits for members of Congress. “I’m running against Congressman Smith, who has been in the House of Representatives since 1980 – just seven years before I was even born.” Morrison said he wouldn’t stoop to personal attacks against Smith or his legislation during his campaign since the voters of the district have elected Smith to Congress 22 times. “Clearly the people of the area aren’t voting him out. I don’t want to go about attacking him, because then I think it kind of attacks the people of the district who have voted for him so many times,” he said. “But, we can’t have people in positions of power for that long. If we have term limits for our president, that has to be something that trickles down to everybody in public office,” he said. Members of the House are elected to two-year terms while members of the U.S. Senate serve six-year terms. Neither have term limits. “I’m up against a juggernaut of a congressman. He’s been there longer than anybody else has. (But) the American people need to see that people aren’t just getting elected or reelected without really much effort.” “People check a box because they’re used to the name,” he said. “We need a fresh set of faces, we need fresh ideas. You’re only going to get that if you continue to allow new people to run and win and implement these things. It’s going to be more of the same unless we have term limits. So that is something I’m incredibly passionate about,” Morrison said. According to his campaign website, Morrison also advocates for reclaiming personal liberties, fiscal responsibility and the free market and reigning in the United States’ national debt. Morrison is also a noninterventionist, believes in shifting power away from the federal government and toward local control, the Second Amendment and addressing the climate crisis through incentivizing clean energy businesses and personal responsibility.[3] |
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2023
John Morrison completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Morrison's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I began to realize many of my personal views did not align with what both our major political parties were propagating. I believe people have not only the right to choose their own paths, but to also live their own lives.
As citizens of this country, we do not have to agree on every topic of conversation but we need to respect each other’s views and stances. What we can and cannot say and what we can and cannot do, has become too common in our day to day lives. I am working to prove that the government works for us, and not the other way around.- EDUCATION: In my decade plus of working in the public school system I know firsthand that reform is needed. Both in curriculum, and in administration.
- THE ECONOMY: When a free market works as it should, anyone can thrive economically. Special interests, and government interference does not allow business owners to succeed and provide jobs.
- PERSONAL LIBERTIES: Citizens have the right to live their lives according to their beliefs as long as they do not impede on the rights and freedoms of others. The 4th amendment must also be reinforced to protect the privacy of citizens.
-Christian Bale
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 24, 2024
- ↑ The Two River Times, “Election 2024: Three Challenge U.S. Rep. Chris Smith in 4th District Republican Stronghold,” October 24, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
