Joe Belnome has long been a regular at former President Donald Trump’s rallies. By his own count, the Belleville resident has been to more than 20.
He was also among the thousands of Trump supporters who marched to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 in protest of President Joe Biden‘s victory over Trump, though he insists he wasn’t one of those who breached the building in a violent attack and he hasn’t been charged with a crime.
Now, Belnome wants to work in that building. The 48-year-old is vying for the Republican nomination to represent parts of North Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives, one of more than a half-dozen people involved in the events of that infamous day who are seeking public office across the nation this year.
Photos show Belnome, dressed in a forest green “Trump 2020″ jacket, in the middle of the large crowd that formed around the Capitol after Trump spoke at a rally that day pushing the unfounded claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, despite multiple court rulings rejecting the premise.
Some in the mob, seeking to challenge Biden’s victory as Congress prepared to certify it, ultimately clashed with police, stormed the building, and broke inside in a riot that has led to more than 1,000 people being charged.
Belnome, now running in the GOP primary with the support of party leaders in a bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill in the state’s 11th congressional district, says he “peacefully marched” to the Capitol after seeing Trump speak. He also admits to deleting his social media in the wake of the riot but says his actions that day were “not violent.”
“I was there,” he told NJ Advance Media during a recent phone interview. “I did not enter the Capitol building.”
“I can’t tell you how long I was there or what time I went back to my hotel,” Belnome added. “At the time, I didn’t know anyone entered the building.”
Belnome, a building inspector for Belleville Township, said the FBI visited his home to question him about that day, but he said he has been “exonerated” by the agency.
He has not been charged in the events of Jan. 6, according to a search of police and court records.
“I’m a law-abiding citizen,” Belnome said. “I was cleared of any wrongdoing.”
Daniel Ball, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said the office currently has no public information to share. “Additionally, we are unable to comment on the existence or non-existence of investigations,” Ball said.
The FBI did not return a message seeking comment.
Belnome said his attendance on Jan. 6 is “not breaking news” because opponents brought it up when he ran for state Senate last year, though it did not gain widespread attention.
Belnome has received the coveted endorsements of all three county Republican parties — Essex, Morris, and Passaic — in his district as seeks a seat in Congress this year. That gives him an edge in the race for the party’s nod to face Sherrill, a potential candidate for governor next year.
Winning the seat will be an uphill battle for any Republican. The 11th District once leaned Republican, but Sherrill flipped it in the blue wave of 2018, when she and other Democrats were swept into office in Trump’s midterms. The district was made more Democratic-friendly by the state’s independent redistricting commission in 2021, and Sherrill easily won a third term the following year.
Several people who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 have or are currently running for local or national office. A number were charged for their roles.
Most notably, Jacob Chansley, who wore a horned hat while entering the Capitol and was known as the “QAnon Shaman,” is a Libertarian candidate for an Arizona congressional seat after pleading guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding.
A few, like Belnome, said they were at Trump’s rally and marched to the Capitol but did not enter the building. They include Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for North Carolina superintendent of public education, and Anthony Kern, a member of the Arizona Senate who is now running for the same seat Congress that Chansley is seeking.
In 2022, NJ Advance Media reported that Ian Smith, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district, spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 and was also at the Capitol but said he didn’t breach the building.
A former union bricklayer, Belnome — who goes by the nickname “Jersey Joe” — has attended so many Trump rallies that the New York Post profiled him during the 2020 election. He remains an ardent Trump supporter.
Belnome said he is running for Congress in part to curb undocumented immigration and protect children from “age-inappropriate content.” He said he is “tired of seeing our country invaded” and the justice system “weaponized” against opponents of Biden.
“We need Trump back in,” Belnome said. “I want to be someone he can rely on in the House.”
Several officials in his district said it’s common knowledge among politicians in the area that Belnome was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Michael Sheldon, a former Belleville school board member, said he looked into how Belnome was involved and managed to find screenshots of some social media posts Belnome deleted.
In one tweet, from Dec. 26, 2020, Belnome wrote about plans for people to gather at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the day Congress met to certify Biden’s win.
“Hundreds of thousands of us will be outside that building,” Belnome wrote in the tweet. “If they accept the fraud they are part of the fraud. Therefore enemies of the people.”
Vice reported that the right-wing news site TruNews conducted an interview with Belnome at an airport the day before the riot in which he reportedly said he wouldn’t rule out “storming” the Capitol if Trump ordered it. Only a screenshot of the video remains.
Asked by NJ Advance Media if he deleted social media posts related to that date, Belnome said: “I kind of didn’t have any social media after Jan. 6 for a while.”
Sheldon said he also worked with Sedition Hunters, a group that seeks out participants in the riot, to find photos of Belnome at the Capitol grounds that day. Sedition Hunters has posted some pictures of Belnome outside the building to its public website.
The group declined to comment, saying it takes “confidentiality very seriously and cannot disclose any communications we may have had.”
Belnome is shown in the photos standing in the crowd outside the Capitol. In one, smoke is hovering above them. In others, he is shown standing on one of the building’s porticos, or porches.
Sheldon said he sent the photos last year to then-state Assemblywoman Brittnee Timberlake, the Essex County Democrat whom Belnome ran against for an open state Senate seat in North Jersey’s 34th legislative district. He said he also sent them to Sherrill’s office last year.
Sheldon said he has not found any pictures of Belnome inside the Capitol that day.
“I detest anyone who participated in Jan. 6,” Sheldon said when asked why he took up the search. “They should never be allowed to hold office in our country. Belnome is a case in point.”
Timberlake, who defeated Belnome by 50 percentage points in last year’s state Senate race, was critical of him for being at the Capitol that day.
“The people in attendance call themselves patriots but are not,” the senator said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
“Joseph Belnome should be ashamed of himself for being a part of such an embarrassing display of violence, destruction, and division,” she added. “Anyone who is a part of any group who believes it was okay to storm the Capitol on January 6th is a threat to our country, freedom, democracy, constitution, and way of life.”
Sean Higgins, a spokesman for Sherrill, said the congresswoman, a former Navy helicopter commander, has “devoted her life to defending American democracy.“
”Meanwhile, election-denier Joe Belnome spreads his MAGA extremism across the internet and even attended the violent January 6 mob at the U.S. Capitol,” Higgins added.
Belnome has his own criticisms of Sherrill, saying she ”came across as a moderate when she came into office” but has since voted “with the radical left.”
State Sen. Joe Pennachio, R-Morris, the New Jersey co-chair of Trump’s 2020 campaign, said Belnome‘s attendance on Jan. 6 is not disqualifying.
“The ones that have broken the law are being prosecuted,” Pennachio said. “Let’s talk about the issues instead of a contrived issue. Jan. 6, 2021 is over three years ago. He was one of thousands. The vast majority there were peacefully protesting.”
More than 1,230 people have been charged with crimes related to the attack, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The House voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection” over the events, though the U.S. Senate acquitted him.
Trump last year said he would “most likely” pardon a “large portion” of those involved if he were elected again to the White House.
“I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control,” he said during a CNN town hall.
Julian Zelizer, a political science professor and historian at Princeton University, said the number of people involved in Jan. 6 running for office is due in part to Trump and the Republican Party having normalized what happened that day.
“It’s almost as if being part of Jan. 6 is a badge of honor,” Zelizer said. “Some of it is Trump propping it up. Some is the party has made it clear this is not a problem.”
This 2020 election has also become a topic in New Jersey’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate this year. Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner, one of the top contenders, said this week she would not have voted to certify Biden‘s victory because “there were too many questions” and “a lot of stuff going on.”
Her husband, Republican operative Michael Glassner, helped manage Trump’s 2016 campaign and was chief operating officer of Trump’s 2020 re-election bid.
On Friday, state Sen. Jon Bramnick — a Republican candidate for governor who is openly critical of Trump — wrote on social media “to be a Republican you DO NOT have to deny legitimate election results, ignore the riot on January 6th or pledge your allegiance to only one man.”
Running against Belnome in the 11th District GOP primary is Raafat Barsoom, a physician who has also been a board member for the North Jersey Developmental Center, and John Sauers, an accountant.
Mark DeLotto, a real estate consultant, is challenging Sherrill in the Democratic primary.
Belnome was recently endorsed by Roger Stone, the Trump ally and longtime political operative, who wrote on social media that Belnome “can be counted on to fight to make America great again.”
“The election is bigger than me and Mikie Sherrill,” Belnome said, noting this year’s races will also determine whether Republicans maintain control of the House and Democrats the Senate.
The Essex, Morris, and Passaic Republican parties that endorsed Belnome did not return messages seeking comment.
Belnome told NJ Advance Media he believes some people charged in Jan. 6 have not been treated fairly.
“I think a lot people that have done the same type of crimes are not seeing the same type of time,” he said.
“I don’t really want that to be part of my story,” Belnome said of his involvement. “It’s out there. I’ve made my statement on the matter.”
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.
