Kovic running for state Assembly

Sparta lawyer Robert Kovic has joined the Republican candidates running for a state Assembly seat in District 24.

The first-generation American ran for Congress in the 11th District in 2022 but did not make the primary ballot.

Kovic, a former Ridgefield councilman, said his reasons for running stems from his experience as a child of parents who immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia a few years before he was born.

They struggled with money problems, with his father working as a machinist and his mother as a seamstress.

“They were victims of a dream denied,” he said. “They came to New Jersey to pursue the American dream and escape the iron-fisted communist rule of Eastern Europe. ...

“They had success at first, until their dream was betrayed. Thanks to the powers that be in Washington, factories began closing in the United States. Jobs were shipped to Mexico, then China, India and Vietnam, by the hands of our politicians and multinational corporations.”

Kovic said the same thing is happening today to thousands of residents in Sussex, Warren and Morris counties because of inadequate infrastructure, too few jobs, spotty internet, narrow roads, skyrocketing taxes and inflation eating away the paychecks of working people.

“People (are) leaving for better opportunities elsewhere while others are trapped without the means to stay or go,” he noted.

”I’ve never forgotten the plight of my parents. I spend every day working to take care of my family and the people I’m responsible for. I spent my career as an attorney and elected official fighting for those left behind, forgotten, forsaken.”

Kovic said he is running for the Assembly “to stop Phil Murphy from continuing to attack our families with his woke agenda; restricting our parental rights and our constitutional rights and making New Jersey the worst place to start and run a business.”

“His policies continue to destroy our quality of life with the highest property taxes in the nation, forgetting our suffering farmers, families and businesses. I learned long ago how poorly chosen elected officials and bad policy can destroy jobs, families, businesses, communities and dreams. I’m here to do something about it.”