LD-23

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington) said today that she is thinking about running for state Sen. Leonard Lance's (R-Flemington) seat, but she doesn’t want to make any announcements just yet.

“I am seriously thinking about it. However, I have to say that my friend Leonard Lance just spent a year of his life running for this seat in Congress, and he really deserves a week to revel in the victory, and I don’t want to diminish any of the press. This is his week,” she said. “I think he just wants to enjoy the limelight and steal his thunder, and I will not be part of stealing his thunder.”

Asked whether that comment was a jab at her district-mate, Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington), who earlier today told PolitickerNJ.com that he planned to run for the seat, Karrow said “I didn’t say that.”

Now that State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) is headed to Congress, his district-mate, Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Township) plans to seek his seat.

Doherty is filing his paperwork with the Election Law Enforcement Commission today.

“I am announcing today that I am running for the state Senate seat, and I’m going to be spending today getting out my announcements and contacting the chairmen of the two counties, other elected officials and others involved in political circles,” Doherty told PolitickerNJ.com this morning.

Doherty’s heavily Republican district spans mostly rural Hunterdon and Warren Counties. The two Republican county committees must meet within 35 days of Lance's resignation to choose a replacement. Since there are more than two years remaining in Lance’s term, whoever the committees select to fill the seat will have to win a primary contest in June of next year and a special general election in November.