On the same day she received a challenge from Kelly Ann Hart, Sussex County GOP Chair Ailish Hambel said she is prepared to fend her off and secure another term. 

"I am very much running again," Hambel told PolitickerNJ.com. "It is my intent to be selected as chairman. I am absolutely running."  

Hambel assumed the chairmanship nearly three years ago when Richard Zeoli left the job to successfully pursue a seat on the freeholder board.  

The chair bemoaned Hart's timing in trying to unseat her.  

"At this point with so many races this is not the time to have a distraction over a GOP chairman's contest," Hambel said. "If you were really a team player, you would not be challenging."  

The women will square off at a party convention the week after the June Primary.