It may not have initially registered much beyond the room, but pundits came up with something after Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh’s appearance at a Somerset Dems event two weeks ago.
Sayegh showed up at Paul Juliano’s Bergen County party on Monday night, it was quite something.
But Bergen is in the vicinity of Paterson.
If Sayegh was only interested in a congressional seat in a district that includes part of Bergen, going to Bergen makes sense.
Somerset?
That this appears suggests something else, perhaps.
In any case, whatever that means, Sayegh treated a bunch of guests from Somerset County Democratic Committee Chair Peg Schaffer along with Steve Sweeney, Steve Fulop and Nick Scutari, among others.
Tom Malinowski was also in the room, rekindling the likelihood of a run for the 7th District congressional seat he lost last year in a tilt to Tom Kean, Jr.
“He’s running,” a source told InsiderNJ, after the event.
But what about Sayegh running for governor?
“I don’t think so,” said a second source. “I don’t see it. I think he’s more prepared for Congress.”
His move to Central Jersey likely has more to do with expanding fundraising beyond the confines of his backyard, the source added.
Still, Sayegh comes up more than occasionally when Democratic Party pundits bring up North Jersey names.
If Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill implode for some reason during a statewide sentiment phase, “Watch Andre,” more than a few people have told InsiderNJ. It might be North Jersey’s alternative to avoiding the likes of Sweeney or Craig Coughlin, or Fulop and Ras Baraka, operators argue.
Likewise, Paterson’s mayor made some jokes at the front of the Somerset room that apparently went over well as Sayegh tries to expand his footprint south, and not just east.
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