{"id":16055,"date":"2020-02-28T03:34:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T08:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=16055"},"modified":"2020-02-28T05:34:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T10:34:26","slug":"meet-the-only-ocean-county-republican-running-for-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2020\/02\/meet-the-only-ocean-county-republican-running-for-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Only Ocean County Republican Running for Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>

John Novak (Campaign Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ocean County residents who listen to talk radio have probably heard John Novak\u2019s voice booming through their speakers over the past few weeks. The Barnegat Township mayor is running on a pro-Trump platform to unseat incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Andy Kim in November, and has recently bought spots on shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh and Mark Simone, among others.<\/p>\n

Novak, however, is facing challenges in the race to represent the Republican party later this year. While most political scientists would likely hold that a candidate from Ocean County \u2013 the GOP\u2019s base in the third congressional district \u2013 has the best chance to retaking the seat for the party, behind-the-scenes party politics has led both the Ocean County and Burlington County Republican organizations to endorse Kate Gibbs \u2013 a one-term Burlington freeholder whose criminal record of shoplifting was recently uncovered by the press \u2013 instead of the hometown candidate. Complicating matters further, David Richter, a wealthy former CEO of Hill International, switched races from the second to the third congressional districts after U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew became a Republican and received an endorsement from the president.<\/p>\n

Can Novak, a former state trooper and local attorney who first became Barnegat\u2019s mayor in 2016, overcome the party\u2019s support for the now-bruised Gibbs and out-of-district resident Richter? He told Shorebeat in a recent interview that he is hoping to gain a grassroots-style wave of support, much of which started with the high-profile radio ads.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the only pro-life, pro-second-amendment, lifetime NRA member candidate in this race,\u201d Novak said.<\/p>\n

Novak joined the NRA at age 10, and support for the second amendment has become a major push in his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am an avid shooter and have shot competitively, I hunt, I fish and I\u2019m a proud [NRA] member, unapologetically so,\u201d Novak said.<\/p>\n

Novak is also leaning on supporters of President Donald Trump to buoy his effort to win the GOP nomination, pledging that he will go to Washington to boost many of the White House\u2019s initiatives and policy proposals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support the Trump agenda, I support building the wall and securing our borders, turbocharging our economy \u2013 which Trump has already started, but I want to keep it going \u2013 and I want to take the boot of government off the throat of small business owners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Novak, 61, has played a number of diverse roles in life. He put himself through county college selling produce, then took a job in the logging industry to pay tuition at Stockton College. He served as a state trooper, but also worked construction to make extra money to attend law school. He now runs a small law office in Toms River.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe not only need to support capitalism, but do everything we can to help it,\u201d opined Novak, in the wake of the elevation of self-described socialist Bernie Sanders opening up a significant lead in the Democratic presidential primary. Indeed, he said, supporting small business owners and removing government regulations are among his top motivators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do mean that we need to get back to the formula that works,\u201d Novak said. \u201cIt\u2019s not an eloquent quote, but when someone buys a yacht the salesman makes a commission \u2013 he makes money and his family has money. Then someone has to maintain that yacht. That person might go out and buy a new pickup truck, which supports even more jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak has his own spin on Trump\u2019s famed \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d slogan: \u201cMake America, America Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have young men and women coming back home, missing arms and legs, and they take a back seat for the services they need to what I call the chronic couch-sitters,\u201d the candidate said. \u201cWe have illegal immigrants and couch-sitters who go to the front of the line for government programs, educational programs, vocational programs and medical attention, and they get to the head of the line before veterans who served in combat. That is a national disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak ticks all of the boxes that would usually solidify his support among Republicans, but he says internal politics within the Republican party has cost him endorsements. Richter, though he does not live in the district, brings money. Gibbs, who lives in Burlington County, drew support from prominent Republican women.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreeholder Ginny Haines absolutely, positively wanted a woman, and was beside herself over the revelations of the day before,\u201d said Novak, recalling his appearance before a GOP screening committee the day after news of Gibbs\u2019 shoplifting arrest, marijuana possession arrest, public drinking summons and nine lawsuits filed by lands lords came to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018voting for Katie Gibbs just because she\u2019s a woman is just as wrong as voting for me just because I\u2019m a man. It\u2019s just wrong,'\u201d Novak said.<\/p>\n

On Gibbs: \u201cI\u2019m not talking about pot \u2013 smoking pot is subject to some discussion \u2013 I\u2019m talking about shoplifting,\u201d Novak said. \u201cIt speaks to moral turpitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak sees himself as a man of action who can bring solid action to Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have a reputation of being honest and trustworthy, or dishonest and untrustworthy?\u201d he asked. \u201cAre you doing it to have your ring kissed or are you doing it to be a public servant? People get uncomfortable when I ask these questions, but they\u2019re valid questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask, \u2018have you ever done anything?\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cOr have you just bounced around from board, to body, to agency?\u201d<\/p>\n

Novak said he is guided strongly by his faith, taking a few opportunities during an interview to relate his approach to public service to passages from the Bible.<\/p>\n

When New Jersey votes in the June primary, Novak hopes to have gained enough support to best his opponents and move to challenge Kim in what is predicted to be one of the toughest and most expensive congressional races in America. For Republicans, unity between Burlington and Ocean counties is seen as a key to energize voters, but some prominent Republicans in Ocean County have quietly expressed concerns about Gibbs\u2019 past and the fact that she is largely unknown in Ocean County, which will account for the bulk of the Republican electorate.<\/p>\n

Appealing to Ocean County voters opens up an opportunity for Novak, though he said geography is only one factor in deciding who to support in the voting booth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t expect to be nominated just because I\u2019m from Ocean County,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a significant factor, but I would hope I wouldn\u2019t get nominated just because I\u2019m the hometown boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The radio spots have been working to get his name out there, Novak said. People are noticing him and giving his campaign \u2013 which may have been overlooked by some voters who have only heard about Gibbs and Richter \u2013 a boost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to lunch today and a guy said to me, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re that Novak guy, right?\u2019\u201d he recalled. \u201cI go to the gym and hear, \u2018Ride the wave! Trump and Novak!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At the local Buy Rite liquor store, a man in line even offered to buy him a six-pack of beer. (Novak was thankful, but paid for his own.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people get it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really are in a battle for our country. Andy Kim is a radical socialist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have a primary battle, that message will be important,\u201d Novak said.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ocean County residents who listen to talk radio have probably heard John Novak\u2019s voice booming through their speakers over the past few weeks. The Barnegat Township mayor is running on a pro-Trump platform to unseat incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Andy Kim in November, and has recently bought spots on shows hosted by Rush Limbaugh and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[24,2228,279,3976],"class_list":["post-16055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ocean-county","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-john-novak","tag-third-congressional-district","tag-u-s-congress"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/john_novak.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-4aX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}