A second Democratic candidate is launching a campaign against Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), undeterred by Smith’s decades-long tenure in Washington and the strong Republican lean of his 4th congressional district.
Keith Doll, a registered nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, announced today that he’ll run to unseat Smith, whom he accused of voting in “lockstep” with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“Rather than speak out against the corruption of all levels of government and the misinformation that threatens our functioning economy and democracy, Representative Smith has insulated himself in his home far away from constituents,” Doll said in a statement. “It is time we finally hold him accountable for over 40 years of votes, most recently the near-full implementation of Project 2025 and the incredibly damaging Big Beautiful Bill, that represent his own desire to maintain political power over the people he is supposed to represent.”
One other Democrat is already running for Smith’s seat: Julie Flynn, a professor at Rutgers University who went public with her campaign last week. More Democratic candidates could still be on their way, though the dark-red hue of the 4th district, which spans parts of Ocean and Monmouth Counties along the Jersey Shore, may discourage many from running.
Doll isn’t entirely a newcomer to politics; in 2017, he ran for a borough council seat in the Union County suburb of New Providence, falling a few hundred votes short. Since then, he’s moved to Middletown in Monmouth County, where he’s raising three young children with his wife.
In his campaign announcement, Doll leaned into a populist, anti-corruption message, saying that he will refuse corporate PAC money for his campaign and fight against billionaires and corporations in Congress.
“This campaign will highlight the continued struggles of working people to make a living in the world’s richest nation,” he said. “While a handful of billionaires and the elite buy our elections to funnel corporate profits into their own pockets, our elected leaders sell out our freedoms and souls by representing their own career interests rather than our rights to life, liberty, and property.”
Smith was first elected all the way back in 1980, when he unseated scandal-tarred Rep. Frank Thompson (D-Trenton) in an upset, and he’s won re-election 22 times since then in a district that’s steadily shifted away from its original boundaries. Smith is now best known in Washington for his work on global human rights – he’s currently the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa – and his staunch opposition to abortion.
Smith’s record is one that local Democrats have objected to for years, but they haven’t had much electoral success against him, especially after Democratic mapmakers made the 4th district much more conservative ahead of the 2022 elections in order to shore up neighboring districts held by Democrats. In 2024, Smith beat his Democratic opponent Matt Jenkins by a 67%-32% margin.
In fact, if Smith is to face a serious challenge in 2026, it’s more likely to come from a fellow Republican than a Democrat. Smith has made some intra-party enemies over the years, especially from the Trumpier wing of his party, though no Republican has yet taken steps towards a campaign against him next year.
