Marcia Karrow

Look for a possible upset in northwestern New Jersey: sources say that State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) is trailing Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford) in the race for the GOP State Senate nomination in District 23, according to Karrow's internal polling.  This would be a stunning comeback for Doherty, who won just 42% against Karrow in a January special election convention after Leonard Lance resigned to take his seat in Congress.

If no incumbents are defeated in their bids for re-election to the Legislature today, it will be the first time since 1995.  Most at risk: State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan), who has served in the State Senate since January; seven-term Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.); newly-elected Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown), and freshmen Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) and Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark). 

Two years ago, three Essex County Democrats lost their Assembly seats: Wilfredo Caraballo (D-Newark), Oadline Truitt (D-Newark) and Craig Stanley (D-Irvington).  All three had lost the backing of the Essex Democratic organization.  Stanley, who lost that race by just 127 votes, is challenging Caputo and Tucker.

Keep an eye on District 23, where Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Oxford) is challenging State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan).  Karrow beat Doherty rather easily in a January special election convention after Leonard Lance left the Senate to take a seat in Congress.  But Doherty has traditionally been a strong vote getter in GOP primaries in this Hunterdon-Warren district.  Karrow has more money, the line in Hunterdon (there is no line in Warren) and the advantages of incumbency, but Doherty has an exceptionally strong base among conservatives and could benefit from a strong turnout among supporters of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan. 

The winner of the primary will run in a November special election to complete the remaining 26 months of Lance’s term.

In the State Assembly primary, Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown), who won a special election convention to replace Karrow, and Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson are running together.  They face Edward Smith, who is Doherty’s Chief of Staff.

Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) and senate campaign volunteer Xiaoqiao Zhang.

CLINTON - Battling state Sen. Marcia Karrow's (R-Raritan) earlier week endorsement by the National Rifle Association (NRA), challenger Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) did a Sunday morning church blast touting his backing by New Jersey Right to Life.

Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown)

HACKETTSTOWN – Each of the anti-gay marriage, pro-gun, pro-life Republican candidates in the 23rd District Assembly race tried to run to the right of the other two in a radio debate on WRNJ this week, separately railing against taxing and spending in Trenton, while parting company on the gubernatorial contest. 

Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown) and his running mate, Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson, both running on a ticket with state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.), are trying to fend off Ed Smith of Asbury, an ally of anti-establishment senate candidate Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.). 

Warren County-based businessman DiMaio beat Hunterdon-based attorney Peterson at a joint Warren-Hunterdon County convention in February.  Then they teamed up with Karrow under the auspices of Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaign.  

State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.)

HACKETTSTOWN – Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) said he’ll live or die politically with gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan, whose rival, state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.), acted like Lonegan’s flat tax provided her with a generous opening in their WRNJ radio debate here this morning.

“My opponent has embraced a tax plan that would raise taxes on 70 percent of the people in this state and in my district,” Karrow said. “The median income in my district is about $32,000 per year. People making $32,000 a year will have a tax increase under the plan Mr. Doherty has embraced, in addition to losing their rebates. I don’t how they will survive in this state.”

Doherty stood by Lonegan, particularly when he highlighted his own commitment to revamping Abbott Schools funding and, in his own words, taking on what he described as New Jersey’s activist judiciary.

Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.)

RARITAN TWP. – Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) swings onto a road that must have been full blown farm country ten years ago that now has that creeping suburban bedroom community feeling to it among some last standing barns and cornrows.

“The only people who care where you’re from are the party insiders,” says the Essex County native, who moved out here to God’s country following his service in the U.S. Army. His eyes dart from the list of registered Republicans back to the road as his sedan slices through the rain, bumps over the lip of yet another driveway and rolls to a stop behind a two-car garage.

Doherty knows all about the party insiders, having beaten his head against their structures in several elections, won, and lost in heart-breaking fashion on that bitter afternoon in mid-January.

So, he’s going directly to the voters. “I’ve always done it this way,” he announces. 

Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, right, with state Sen. Kip Bateman (R-Somerset).

Chris Christie made a multi-stop swing through South Jersey over the weekend and kept his sites trained on Gov. Jon Corzine in a new television ad, while Steve Lonegan, as far as 23 points back in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, hammered the GOP frontrunner wherever he could in advance of their 101.5 radio debate tonight.

As Christie marched in Hamilton’s Memorial Day Parade, Lonegan blasted out a press release branding the former U.S. Attorney as a media darling. “The liberal-left is worried about a real conservative winning in a ‘blue’ state and are lining up behind Chris Christie,” read the release, citing endorsements from the Philadelphia Inquirer and local weekly the Hanover Eagle.

Not content to snipe from afar, Lonegan went into the heart of enemy territory to denounce campaign literature that the former mayor of Bogota said wrongly attacked his chief Warren/Hunterdon County ally, Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.), who’s challenging state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.) in the June 2nd GOP Primary.

The Political Prince Of Darkness Strikes Again

Administration Claims “We’re Doing Better Than Sister States” Refuted By Numbers

Senator Marcia Karrow (R-Hunterdon/Warren) called on the Corzine Administration to abandon efforts to gloss over New Jersey’s soaring unemployment rate and to start accepting proposals by Republicans and others to revive the State’s economy.

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