News
Princeton's Sipprelle To Vie For Repub. Nomination In District 12
By Ryan Fennell
PRINCETON - Last year Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre (R) announced his candidacy to run for New Jersey's 12th Congressional District seat currently held by Congressman Rush Holt (D-12).
Recently another candidate has thrown his hat into the ring to challenge Halfacre for a chance to unseat the incumbent Holt.
Princeton resident Scott Sipprelle (R) announced his candidacy in Princeton on January 13.
Sipprelle is the founder of Westland Ventures, a Princeton-based investment firm that provides growth capital for emerging companies. Sipprelle also serves as chairman of the advisory board for The Bank of Princeton.
Prior to founding Westland Ventures Sipprelle was a senior executive in the financial services industry. He held the position of managing director at Morgan Stanley and eventually became the head of the firm's equity capital markets division.
Sipprelle is also the author of The Golden Dog, a fictional mystery novel set on Wall Street.
Sipprelle is married and has three children.
On Monday, Sipprelle unveiled his "Blueprint for Renewal" that consists of six core principals.
"I refuse to be a candidate who offers timid, poll-tested sound bytes masquerading as a panacea to the serious problems we face as a nation and a world," Sipprelle said on his campaign website. "That is why I'm unveiling the six core principles that will form the cornerstone of my campaign's Blueprint for Renewal aimed at addressing these problems by offering bold and dynamic solutions that will make America work again."
"His motivation for running is to fix the country and get people back to work," said Sipprelle's spokesman Chris Russell. "Scott is a private citizen who's been a successful entrepreneur and sees the country that he loves and the American dream slipping away from future generations and he wants to do something about it. He's not been a professional politician and he's not trying to make a career out of it. He's answering the call at a time when the country he loves is in trouble. He thinks his skill set lends itself to making him the kind of candidate not to just talk about change but to actually bring some real change."
According to Halfacre, he welcomes Sipprelle to the race and said that he is glad to see it.
"We're glad to see other people interested in running against Rush Holt," Halfacre said. "We think it shows that Rush Holt is vulnerable this year which is what we've been saying all along."
Halfacre added that he would be willing to participate in debates with Sipprelle for the party's nomination.
"We would be more than willing to debate anytime, anyplace," Halfacre said.
