Matt Holt

Locked in a three-way fight to claim a vacant Assembly seat in the 23rd District, Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt today announced the support for his campaign of former Hunterdon County Sheriff Bill Doyle.

Read More >

HACKETTSTOWN – Pro-life and pro-gun, Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio calls himself the most conservative candidate in the race for the vacant District 23 Assembly seat even though he started his political career in the opposing party. 

The president of A. DiMaio & Son, Inc., a general contracting company he co-founded in 1977, he came up the hard way, working in a family business that taught him early the value of a dollar and that honed his instincts for survival and self-sufficiency.

At 53 now, the Republican’s been around a little longer than his Hunterdon County competitors, Freeholder Matt Holt and Freeholder Erik Peterson, and he’s punched more time at the local level, having served 11 years on the Hackettstown council and then an additional nine years as mayor before winning a seat on the Warren County Freeholder Board.

He spent 14 of those years in Hackettstown as a Democrat, and not surprisingly in this increasingly competitive GOP terrain heading toward Saturday’s special convention, that’s the first fact about DiMaio’s background his opponents’ surrogates highlight in casual conversation.

Read More >

FRANKLIN – If politics inevitably involves relationships, Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson has a good one in U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton).

Not only did Lance serve as best man at Peterson’s wedding, but he’s the godfather of Peterson’s son. Those connections are not insignificant in the budding career of the 42-year old Franklin Township politician, especially considering Lance’s solidification as the darling venerable statesman of Hunterdon County last year when he thrashed Linda Stender in their 7th District Congressional contest.

From his perch in the U.S. Congress now, Lance isn’t exactly seizing handfuls of glossy campaign literature and making triumphal rounds in a Republican special election and indeed sources say he's hardly been visible, but, Peterson assures, “He’s helping me.”

He won’t elaborate. But any kind of “help” from Lance presumably can’t hurt in Hunterdon. 

Read More >

CLINTON – By design, Matt Holt’s grandfather, the late U.S. Sen. Clifford P. Case, kept politics separate from his family, so Holt learned what he knows about the trade on his own, at the local level. 

After trying at first and failing, he won a seat on the Clinton Town Council with the death of Councilman Rich Simpson. 

Six years into his service, Holt decided he wanted to be mayor. 

He told longtime incumbent Mayor Allie McGahren of his plans. McGahren told Holt she wanted to be mayor for two more years. If he could hold off until then, she would retire and cede the field to the young up-and-comer. She followed through on the agreement, and Holt was elected mayor.

Read More >

FLEMINGTON – Fighting criticism that he’s operating behind the scenes to weaken the chances of two home county candidates in order to protect state Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.), Hunterdon County GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl says he simply wants to keep the balance struck between those two counties that contribute to the 23rd Legislative District.

To that end he told Hunterdon County freeholders Matt Holt and Erik Peterson Friday that regardless of who wins the special convention on Feb 21st, he agreed with Warren County GOP chairman Doug Steinhardt to give a third Assembly candidate, Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio, the organization line in the June Republican Primary.

“The premise is to preserve bi-county representation, if possible,” affirmed Steinhardt.

But the move by the two GOP chairmen has generated some blowback as less than two weeks before the convention, DiMaio, Holt and Peterson vie for the Assembly seat Karrow officially vacated today to claim the Senate seat in the 23rd  District with both Kuhl and Steinhart by her side in the Senate chamber.

Read More >

Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio today won the official backing of fellow Freeholder Rick Gardner, as DiMaio pursues an Assembly seat in the 23rd Legislative District.

“It is with great pride that I support & endorse my fellow Freeholder John DiMaio in his run for the Assembly in the 23rd Legislative District,” said Gardner, a Franklin Township farmer. “The conservative roots and values of the citizens in the 23rd District are time-honored traditional values that have made this region one of the best places to live in New Jersey." 

Read More >

Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson today announced the endorsement of 20 elected officials from nine Hunterdon County towns for his 23rd District assembly bid.  

Among the endorsers was Hampton Borough Mayor Robert Walton, who despite Peterson’s moderate reputation called him “accessible, honest and conservative.”  

Clinton Township Mayor Kevin Cimei, who cited Peterson’s freeholder board purchase of the Windy Acres property as proof of his commitment to open space and farmland preservation.

Read More >

The GOP Assembly race in the 23rd District continues, as Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio today secured the endorsement of three-term Warren County Sheriff Sal Simonetti.   

“I have always known John to be a steward of the taxpayers monies and in Trenton, I have 100% confidence that he will be just as vigilant in his work to reduce the size of government while returning more money to the local entities,” Simonetti said in a statement.

“As a law enforcement officer, I recognize the need for dedicated and ethical elected officials who truly understand what it means to be a public servant,” the sheriff added. “In John, the residents of the 23rd District can be assured they are getting a man of character, integrity and who possesses the acumen necessary to be a leader in the State Legislature.”

Read More >

Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck won’t pursue a run for the Assembly, he told PolitickerNJ.com this morning.

“I think I’m going to sit out the Assemby race,” said the ally of Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Twp.), who endorsed Doherty at Saturday’s special convention in Clinton Twp., where Doherty lost in his bid for the state senate. 

“It’s very flattering to be considered in the mix, but there are three very capable candidates in there right now and the timing doesn’t feel right for me,” he explained.

Hunterdon County Freeholder Matt Holt, Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio and Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson are vying for two vacancies in the 23rd District created by Sen. Marcia Karrow’s victory Saturday and Doherty’s decision to forego his assembly seat to run against Karrow in the une Republican primary.

Read More >

If Hunterdon County Freeholder Matthew Holt wins his bid for State Assembly, he'll follow a 23rd district tradition of sending the scion of prominent Republican families to the Legislature.  He is the grandson of Clifford Case, who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate from 1955 to 1979, and Union County in the State Assembly from 1943 to 1944.

Leonard Lance, who represented the 23rd district from 1991 until taking his seat in Congress earlier this month, is the son of Wesley Lance, a former Senate President who served from 1942 to 1943, and again from 1954 to 1962.  Walter "Moose" Foran, who served in the Assembly from 1970 to 1977, and in the Senate from 1977 until his death in 1986, was the son of former Senate President Arthur Foran, who served from 1936 to 1941.

Seven legislators had fathers who served in Trenton: State Senators Christopher Bateman and Christopher Connors, Assemblyman Thomas Giblin and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose had fathers who were in the State Senate; and State Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr., Assemblyman Peter Barnes and Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle had fathers who served in the State Assembly. Read More >