Three GOP challengers debate on Trump, Ukraine, flooding in bid to oppose Mikie Sherrill

Three Republicans hoping to unseat Rep. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District offered a sharp conservative contrast to the three-term Democrat during an online debate Tuesday presented by the Morristown Area League of Women Voters.

The trio will vie for the GOP nomination for the North Jersey district in the June 4 primary.

Two hail from Belleville in Essex County: Dr. Raafat Barsoom, a physician and Christian immigrant from Egypt, and "Jersey Joe" Belnome, a self-described "property maintenance inspector and former bricklayer," who already has collected endorsements from the three county GOP committees — Morris, Passaic and Essex — in the district.

The field is completed by John Sauers, a 27-year-old native of Rockaway Township in Morris County with a graduate degree in forensic accounting and experience in financial management.

All three pushed their conservative credentials, including a strong desire to lower taxes, cut government spending and improve border security. They also vowed to encourage energy independence by increasing domestic oil production, which has already reached record levels in recent years.

Here's a look at the candidates and the visions they laid out to unseat Sherrill in November:

Joe Belnome

Belnome stood out as the most passionate supporter of former president and presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. He also declared himself "the clear favorite" in the field as the debate began.

"My primary challengers have not shown the same level of engagement or visibility, neither raising funds nor capturing media attention," he said. "I sit before you deeply committed to President Trump's vision and policies, aiming to uphold our Constitution, secure our borders and bring back American jobs."

He also secured the Republican nomination for state Senate last year in the 34th Legislative District, before losing to former Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake. Belnome received 24% of the vote in the Democratic-leaning district.

"As the only candidate in this race that our incumbent opponent acknowledges, and actively attacks, [that] makes me literally front-page news," Belnome said.

Dr. Raafat Barsoom

Barsoom offered a compelling life story. A native of Cairo, Barsoom said he was forced to abandon his medical practice in a Muslim neighborhood and legally entered the U.S. in 1998 "with just $200 in my pocket."

He said he worked menial jobs for years to raise money to bring his family to the U.S. and eventually earned his license to practice medicine in the U.S. He is currently an emergency and trauma doctor at CareWell Health Medical Center in East Orange, his campaign website says.

"This is the land of opportunity," Barsoom said during Tuesday's debate. "I lived through oppression. I lived through political corruption. And I see this spreading in our country, so I'm sounding the alarm."

His work with the United Nations Development Program helped earn him a visa to legally enter the United States in 1998, when he was 30 years old, he said. His Egyptian medical degree was not recognized in the U.S., so he was forced to work low-paying jobs to earn enough for his wife, Eva, and their then-7-year-old daughter to join him.

John F. Sauers

Sauers, a Rockaway Township resident, said he is "the only candidate from the district and the only one who cares about the community." Belleville, where the other two candidates live, is one of 14 Essex County towns in the 11th District, which is dominated by 29 Morris County towns. The 11th also covers four Passaic County municipalities.

Touting his financial education, Sauers said he is the candidate most qualified to "balance the budget, lower taxes and make sure that we can secure our country in a heartbeat."

He stressed the need to "close" the U.S. border and wants to "work with mayors across the country and the state to begin the deportation process of the illegal immigrants that are here currently and work with my expertise in accounting, taxes and foreign policy to begin the lowering of taxes and cut the bloated spending across the board."

He said he favors deep cuts in foreign spending and keeping that money stateside to balance the budget and promote domestic interests.

"My opponent won the county lines through mob rule," Sauers added, referring to Belnome's three county endorsements. Those endorsements, however, carry less weight this year after state and federal court rulings scrapped the county committees' ability to automatically group their preferred candidates at the top of the ballot.

Sherrill dominated in 2022

Sherrill, whom pundits have discussed as a possible candidate for governor in 2025, was first elected in 2018. She won her third term in 2022, defeating former Passaic County Assistant Prosecutor Paul DeGroot with 59% of the vote.

Based on that performance, whoever wins the GOP primary would appear to enter the general election as an underdog. On Tuesday, the contenders fielded about a dozen questions on issues ranging from economics to immigration, flooding, the federal cap on deducting state and local taxes and the ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Where they stand on Israel, Ukraine

All three offered strong support for Israel, although Sauers said we should be selling arms to Israel and Ukraine, not giving them away. Barsoom and Belnome added that they saw little hope that Ukraine can withstand the ongoing invasion from Russia.

How to tame flooding problems

On hyperlocal issues, Belnome appeared surprised by a question on flooding, despite repeated issues in the district along the Passaic River, which flows through all three counties, and its many tributaries.

"It's not something that a lot of people have complained about on the campaign trail, but I know it's an issue," Belnome said. The strategy, he said, should be to "make sure there is responsible development in the areas where flooding is happening and make sure there is funding available for research."

Sauer said he would engage with and fund the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address local issues. While Sherrill has touted a Corps of Engineers study and flood-control funding in recent years, Sauer said the Democrat has not done the job sufficiently.

"You won't need to hope and pray and cross your fingers that 'will we get the budget this year?'" Sauers said. "We can solve that tomorrow, and I'm shocked that no politician is currently doing that right now."

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Lifting the SALT cap on tax deductions

The candidates also opposed the SALT tax cap, a $10,000 limit on deductions approved as part of Trump's tax reform package during his presidency. Barsoom said the cap was illegal because New Jersey residents already pay taxes on the income they use to pay their federal income tax, including the full amount on property taxes above the $10,000 cap.

"That's double taxation," he said.

Election fraud, abortion

All three broke with Trump, at least to a degree, on election fraud. They each expressed concerns about election security, identifying mail-in balloting as a major vulnerability, but none would stand with Trump's unsubstantiated assertions that the 2020 election was stolen.

They also broke ranks with the more conservative members of their party who have called for a national abortion ban. The New Jersey candidates each said it's an issue for individual states to decide.

Who's in the 11th District?

After redistricting in 2023, which added Democratic towns in the district while removing Republican-leaning municipalities in Sussex County, the 11th District is now made up of:

• Morris — Boonton, Boonton Township, Butler, Chatham, Chatham Township, Denville, Dover, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Harding, Jefferson, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Madison, Mendham Township (partial), Montville, Morris Plains, Morris Township, Morristown, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany, Pequannock, Randolph, Riverdale, Rockaway, Rockaway Township, Victory Gardens.

• Essex — Belleville, Bloomfield, Cedar Grove, Fairfield, Glen Ridge, Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, Montclair (partial), North Caldwell, Nutley, Roseland, South Orange, West Caldwell.

• Passaic — Little Falls, Totowa, Wayne (partial), Woodland Park.

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com 

Twitter: @wwesthoven

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Meet Republican challengers in NJ primary to face Mikie Sherrill