John Crowley

Princeton pharmaceutical executive John Crowley said this morning that he will not run for Senate, citing business, family and military commitments.

"I am honored and humbled that so many people in New Jersey and beyond have considered that I could be the next U.S. Senator from this great state of ours,” said a statement issued by Crowley, a 40-year-old naval reservist and President and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics.

“Given the very significant commitments that I have now to the shareholders and employees of Amicus Therapeutics, to the U.S. military and, most significantly, to my family, I must, however, respectfully decline this opportunity to serve as a candidate for U.S. Senate at this time.”

There are unconfirmed reports this morning that biotech millionaire John Crowley has decided not to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, ending several days speculation that he might mount a challenge to four-term Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg. With just a week before the April 7 filing deadline, it appears that the GOP field with include Goya Foods millionaire Andy Unanue, State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin. Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello is launching a challenge to Lautenberg in the Democratic primary, while former Democratic State Chairman Tom Byrne is also considering a Senate bid.

State Sen. Joe Pennacchio won the Middlesex County Republican convention today, getting 121 votes to rival Murray Sabrin’s 45.

Candidate Andy Unanue, who remains on vacation in Colorado, did not send a representative to participate in the convention. His name was not on the county committee’s ballots. Nor was John Crowley, who was vacationing out of the country until he returned yesterday and is expected to enter the race as early as Monday.

From left: Folsom Mayor Tom Ballistreri, Assemblyman John Amodeo (R-Atlantic) and Egg Harbor Township Mayor James McCullough.

GALLOWAY - Businessman Andy Unanue bested the field of GOP candidates for U.S. Senate at the Atlantic County Republican Convention here tonight, winning yet another line as part of an in absensia candidacy that is not even a week old.

Vacationing out of the state, Unanue beat state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and economist Murray Sabrin, who both spoke at the event held in the Renault Winery.

Biotech millionaire John Crowley, the 40-year-old Princeton resident who is reportedly mulling a bid for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination, has a story that is so potentially compelling that Harrison Ford may be playing him in a movie based on his life.

From The Cure: How A Father, John Crowley, Raised $100 Million -- and Bucked the Medical Establishment -- in a Quest to Save His Children, a book written by Wall Street Journal Pulitzer Prize winner Getta Anand:

Mercer County Republicans voted to postpone the endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate tonight and will wait and see if biotech millionaire John Crowley decides to enter the race.

“We have two new candidates, one from Mercer County,” said Mercer County GOP Chairman Roy Wesley. “So it’s almost like we have one of our own who we need to give some consideration to.”

Crowley, 39, was a Bristol-Myers Squibb executive eleven years ago when he found out his 15-month-old daughter and four-month-old son had a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease. He wound up leaving to head up a series of biotech firms and has raised a reported $200 million for research of genetic diseases. Harrison Ford is expected to play Crowley in a film about his life.

In an informal vote, taken by a show of hands, Mercer Republicans overwhelmingly supported deferring a formal endorsement in the Senate race, and authorized the party’s executive committee to award the organization line sometime before the April 7 filing deadline.

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin attended the convention. A third candidate, millionaire businessman Andy Unanue, is vacationing in Vail.

HAMILTON -- Princeton businessman John Crowley is poised to enter the U.S. Senate race, according to Mercer County Republican Chairman Roy Wesley.

“Crowley has indicated, at least to me, that he’s interested in becoming a candidate for U.S. Senate,” said Wesley.

The Mercer County Republicans were set to endorse a U.S. Senate candidate at a convention tonight at 7:30, but the entrance of a Mercer native has led to a motion on the floor to defer the endorsement to the Executive Committee.

John CrowleyAdd another name to the list of potential late entrants into the race for the Republican nomination for United States Senator: John Crowley, the President and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, a North Brunswick-based biopharmaceutical company. There is some buzz among Republicans that Crowley has some interest in challenging Frank Lautenberg.