Voters in New Jersey’s fifth district might be breathing a sigh of relief about their electoral choices after a former candidate for its congressional seat was charged with drunk driving after crashing his pickup truck into a house in Newton.

Tod A. Theise, 55, of Hackettstown, was allegedly driving drunk with an open container of alcohol in his car around 2:00 in the afternoon on New Year’s Day when he lost control of the vehicle and it slammed into a house on High Street.

The crash reportedly caused serious damage to the house, which was ultimately determined to be an unsafe structure as a result.

Theise was charged with DWI, refusal, careless driving, and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, and released to a sober adult pending a court appearance.

In 2010, he mounted a campaign to unseat former Representative Scott Garrett, who later lost the 2016 race to current Representative Josh Gottheimer.

Theise has not sought elected office since that race, and now it seems likely that he’s out of the politics game for good.

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