New Jersey Libertarian Leguía’s candidacy gets reprieve after thrown out from nail-biter House race
- Sheri Conover
- Aug 21
- 3 min read
Federal judge expedites hearing that would decide whether New Jersey third parties can use out-of-state petitioners, as major parties have been doing after a court struck down state residency requirement
Libertarian Lana Leguía, candidate for Congress, decided not to play by New Jersey rules that were enforced on grassroots candidates that no longer applied to Democrats or Republicans.
Her candidacy for the New Jersey 7th House district – currently held by an embattled Republican and one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. House seats – attracted Republican attention, and it challenged her use of out-of-state petitioners to get onto the ballot.
The fight took her through state courts until she could get to the federal court that could make a decision as it did five years earlier in Arsenault v. Way.
“There are a lot of candidates who want to play by the rules and they want to fix the system, but they don't realize that the system is not designed for people like you and I to win. It's designed to keep those in power to stay in power,” Leguía said in an interview with us.
“And so a lot of times, candidates say, ‘Well, my argument didn't win in court, and that's it.’ And they gave up,” she added. “Don't give up. Even if they do successfully kick you off the ballot, run again and then run again.”
Leguía’s candidacy has been temporarily preserved while U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi issued a restraining order on Aug. 17. It kept her on the ballot in one of the nation’s most competitive House seats, where the incumbent is a Republican. The hearing will be Aug. 25, and he will deliver a decision by Aug. 31, three weeks ahead of the Sept. 19 deadline to start mailing ballots.
The New Jersey Republican Committee argued that Leguía used petition gatherers who were not New Jersey residents, which is required. She turned in 755 signatures, well over the 250 required. The committee said that 670 of those signatures should be invalidated because the petitioners were not New Jersey residents.
Leguía’s attorneys countered, arguing that the law requiring in-state petitioners violates the First and Fourteenth amendments.
Secretary of State Dale Caldwell had taken no formal position on the temporary restraining order, though he argued that she should be on the ballot out of fairness in application of election law, respecting the will of voters who signed the petitions, and hardships faced by candidates who are not major party. The Democrat officeholder also is lieutenant governor.
Attorney General Office, on behalf of the secretary of state’s office, argued differently: Her candidacy should be restored under state severability law. The law governing elections would remain intact even if the federal court decides that uneven application – in-state petitioners only enforced on candidates who aren’t from major parties – would remove that in-state requirement for all candidates.
“The Secretary has told candidates for the past five years that they need not use in-state circulators. Candidates have relied on that guidance, and Leguía is no exception,” the office argued.
State law requires New Jersey residence for petitioners for independent and third-party general election candidates. However, the Division of Elections did not enforce that provision for 5 years after a federal court ruled against a residency requirement for petitioners for major-party primary candidates. Only Democrats and Republicans have primaries in New Jersey.
Caldwell had restored her candidacy. Then Republicans took Leguía’s case to the New Jersey Appellate Division, which reversed Caldwell and threw her off the ballot. The New Jersey Supreme Court heard her arguments twice in one week, upholding the Appellate decision both times.
Only after exhausting the state court system could she take the case to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey.
The race for the race for the New Jersey 7th District U.S. House seat includes incumbent Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., Republican; Rebecca Bennett, Democrat; and Seamus O’Toole, Stop Israel’s Genocide Party.
Cook Partisan Voting Index rated the New Jersey 7th as one of 19 toss-up House races in the ‘26 election. Those precarious seats currently are held by four Democrats and 15 Republicans. New Jersey’s 12-seat House delegation consists of nine Democrats and three Republicans.
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