Dick Zimmer

Senate candidate Joe Pennacchio hung on to the Hunterdon County Republicans' line tonight.

Pennacchio kept the prominent ballot spot, winning 34 votes to Zimmer’s 30 at a special county committee meeting.

It was the second time that Pennacchio won a county committee vote in Hunterdon County. In late February, he beat Anne Estabrook and Murray Sabrin to win the coveted ballot spot.

But after Hunterdon native Dick Zimmer entered the race last week, the county’s Republican chairman, Henry Kuhl, scheduled a special county committee meeting to vote on whether to change the county’s ballot placement.

“Maverick Murray” Offers Cure To Economy

Republican Senate candidates Joe Pennacchio and Murray Sabrin have raised roughly equal amounts of money, but Pennacchio has a much larger cash reserve.

Pennacchio has raised $361,710 for his U.S. Senate candidacy so far -- including the two weeks that have passed since the Federal Election Commission's March 31st cut off date. At least some of that money was put in by Pennacchio, who said he didn’t know off the top of his head how much he’s donated to his own campaign. He currently has 279,081 cash-on-hand.

“The only thing I can tell you is this: compared to some of the other self-funding candidates, the money I’ve put in to date is not that significant,” said Pennacchio.

All three Republican Senate candidates will participate in a debate hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson University next week.

Joe Pennacchio, Dick Zimmer and Murray Sabrin have all agreed to take part in the “give and take” forum moderated by Star-Ledger columnist Paul Mulshine.

Less than a week after entering the Republican U.S. Senate race, former Rep. Dick Zimmer has won the endorsement of half of the state’s GOP congressional delegation.

Representatives Frank LoBiondo, Jim Saxton and Mike Ferguson all announced their support for Zimmer today, citing his fiscal conservatism. 

Mercer County Republicans tonight endorsed former Rep. Dick Zimmer for U.S. Senate.  In his first intra-party contest since joining the Senate race on Thursday, Zimmer defeated State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio by a 25-5 vote.  Murray Sabrin received two votes.  Zimmer, who represented part of Mercer as a state legislator and Congressman, will run on the organization line in the June 3 primary.

Last month, the Mercer GOP convention had authorized their Executive Committee to endorse a Senate candidate.  The organization had decided to endorse John Crowley, if he ran, and then Andy Unanue as a second choice.

Failed '96 Zimmer Campaign Cost GOP House Seat

FLEMINGTON – In less than a week, Dick Zimmer has gone from being a mere bystander in the race for United States Senator to being the front runner for the Republican nomination.

“This is a pivotal point in history. We have incredible economic challenges here at home, national and domestic security challenges,” said the former three-term Congressman, who lost a tough race for U.S. Senate to Bob Torricelli in 1996. “It’s a great opportunity to be able to have a chance to join the U.S. Senate and shape the course of history when there are such major debates any way.”

Zimmer said he received a call for a GOP County Chairman last Monday -- the day after biotech millionaire John Crowley said he would not run – and asked him to consider getting into the race if Goya Foods heir Andy Unanue dropped out of the race.

“I was an observer just like you. I had no expectation of being a candidate and I made no effort to become one,” he told PolitickerNJ.com. “I just wrote an email to everybody in my office in Washington saying that if this is a surprise to you, I assure you it’s a surprise to me.”

In a press release on his new opponent in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Murray Sabrin called Dick Zimmer a two-time loser.  Sabrin’s statement is both hypocritical and inaccurate.  Sabrin, is a two-time loser: he won 6% of the vote in his 1997 run for Governor as Libertarian, and he received 13% in his fourth-place finish in the 2000 Republican U.S. Senate primary. 

Zimmer Or Lautenberg – More Of The Same