Henry Kuhl

The potential entrance of former Rep. Dick Zimmer into the U.S. Senate race could put at least one of state Sen. Joe Pennacchio’s county lines in jeopardy.

Pennacchio won the Hunterdon County Republican Convention in February, earning preferential ballot placement in a county that produces a lot of primary votes. But Zimmer owns a farm in the county, where he lived when he represented the 12th district in Congress during the 1990s.

If Zimmer does get into the race, Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl plans to call a county committee meeting for April 16th to vote on whether or not to change the county committee’s endorsement. If Zimmer wins that, he’ll get the coveted county line.

There’s still no shortage of party leaders scrambling to find alternative candidates to Joe Pennacchio and Murray Sabrin in the Republican Senate primary, but Pennacchio’s support has not seemed to waver the counties where he’s already won the party line.

“I don’t see that that will change very many peoples’ minds,” Henry Kuhl, the GOP Chairman in Hunterdon County, said. “I think that the candidate Sabrin, in my opinion, would need to properly campaign and sell his ideas to people to be successful rather than take something up that’s 17 years old.”

Longtime Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl is expected to opposition in his re-election bid this June, and Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck is viewed as Kuhl’s most likely challenger.

U.S. Senate candidate Anne Estabrook now has the backing of six GOP County ChairmenTwo more Republican County Chairmen have joined Anne Evans Estabrook's U.S. Senate Exploratory Committee, along with three state legislators and a former GOP State Chairman. Hunterdon County GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl and Salem County GOP Chairman Paul Reed join GOP county leaders from Monmouth, Union, Camden and Gloucester counties as likely Estabrook for Senate supporters.

Assemblymen Peter Biondi and Sean Kean, Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, and former GOP State Chairman Virginia Littell are also backing Estabrook. They join State Senators Joe Kyrillos and Diane Allen, and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.

One of the closest four-way races in the state was in Hunterdon County, where Deborah Trout, a career law enforcement officer, defeated Freeholder Director George Muller by 91 votes, 30%-29%, in the Republican primary. Tony Critelli, who had the endorsement of Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl, finished third with 25% -- 274 votes behind Muller. Gary "Buzz" Howell, who finished last, lost the election by just 912 votes.