Jim Keady is well known “down the shore” in New Jersey. I lived in NJ-02 and worked in NJ-03 for quite a few years, so I’m intimately familiar with the territory. A couple of weeks ago, Jim posted an introduction to his campaign on DKos, and he received a warm reception.
He is running for the NJ-03 congressional seat currently held by flawed incumbent Republican Tom MacArthur, and Ballotpedia rates the race as one to watch. This Jersey shore district would normally be safe-to-“lean GOP”, but Keady has such a compelling personal story that the seat will be in play come November. Add in a dash of Superstorm Sandy, combined with the toxicity of Chris Christie — and voila — there’s a great chance to flip this seat.
A former semi-pro soccer player, Jim is a true activist in every sense of the word. In the late 1990’s, he took up a cause that should be near and dear to every progressive: Sweatshop labor in Nike Corporation’s overseas operations. It cost him his job as goaltending coach on the defending national champion St. John’s University (my daughter’s alma mater) soccer team, because he wouldn’t wear team-sponsor Nike apparel. He took his fight to such a level that he traveled to Indonesia and lived with Nike factory workers to fully understand, and underscore, the exploitation of cheap labor in the third world by multi-national companies.
That’s commitment to a cause.
You say you want a revolution? This is the kind of person that you want leading the charge. You can read the entire story here. Or, you can watch a documentary about it here. Jim Keady is the real deal.
In subsequent years, he’s continued to fight for worker’s rights around the world, as well as raise a family, run a business, and serving on Asbury Park’s city council (ha! maybe we can get The Boss onboard). But Jim’s most dynamic moment in recent history came at the expense of class-act New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy:
As we all well know, Gov. Christie can be quite the character, but when challenged on legitimate complaints by someone representing those who bore the brunt of Sandy’s wrath, Tony Soprano Chris Christie nearly blows a gasket while shouting at Jim to “sit down and shut up”. And you just know in your heart of hearts that Christie wanted to inject an F-bomb between “shut” and “up”.
Well, Jim hasn’t shut up. He’s vying for the congressional seat in order to take his passion and activism to Washington.
In the upcoming NJ Democratic Party primary on June 7th, Jim is running against political gadfly Frederick John LaVergne, who last ran for the seat in 2014 as an independent under the “Democratic Republican” (whatever the heck that is) banner. Given LaVergne’s electoral history, I don’t think the primary challenge will amount to much. The “Bobs for Jobs” party gathered more votes in the race for the NJ-03 seat than LaVergne did in 2012.
Here’s a link to Jim Keady’s ActBlue page. If you really want to flip a House seat, this is one that should be on your radar screen — please drop a few bucks into his campaign bucket. Advertising is split between the Philadelphia and New York markets, so this one isn’t going to be cheap. Jim will be working hard for every single vote.
Bonus! Jim will be in and out of the the diary during the day to respond your questions and comments, starting at 8:45 AM EDT. Join us!
3PM Update — Jim will be back around 8PM this evening.