Matthew Holt

The Courier News today endorsed two incumbent Hunterdon County Freeholders, Matt Holt and Ron Sworen, for re-election.

Read More >

The third-step in the four-part contest to nominate Republican legislative candidates in the 23rd  district will be a decision by Hunterdon County Republicans to pick a second Assembly candidate to run on their organization line in the June primary.  Their ticket already includes newly-elected State Sen. Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) and Assemblyman-elect John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown).  The other Assembly candidate will be from Hunterdon.

The leading candidates for the one seat are the two Hunterdon Freeholders who lost to DiMaio in yesterday's special election convention: Erik Peterson and Matthew Holt.  On the first ballot, Peterson beat Holt 104-56.  These numbers might indicate an advantage for Peterson.

Hunterdon GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl and the Republican screening committee must pick a candidate to replace Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington), who says he's leaving the Assembly to challenge Karrow in the Republican State Senate primary.  Even if Doherty decides to drop his Senate bid, it appears that the door is closed to being included on the organization line for a fifth term in the State Assembly.

The main thing to watch over the next few weeks is to see if Doherty stays in the Senate race - an uphill fight, now that his friend and ally, DiMaio, has now endorsed Karrow and will run on her ticket, and that his friend and ally, Warren County GOP Chairman Douglas Steinhardt, has agreed to back the Kuhl slate.  If Doherty continues, he might recruit two Assembly candidates to run with him. Read More >

Voters will go to the polls today, likely in very small numbers and using paper ballots, to elect Fire Commissioners and approve fire budgets in a more than 25 municipalities throughout the state.  In many towns, Fire Commissioners are paid positions.  Polls are typically open from 2PM to 9PM, and most contests are unopposed. 

The premier Fire Commissioner race is in Woodbridge, where former Council President and Republican Municipal Chairman Kenneth Gardner hopes to restart his political career as a District 1 Fire Commissioner.  Gardner, who sought the GOP nomination for Congress in 2000 and lost bids for local office, is hoping that the Fire Commissioner seat might help him return to public office or enhance his ability to get a state job if a Republican is elected Governor.  He faces Ryan Horvath, a young fire captain who has been visiting voters door-to-door.

Republican County Committee in Hunterdon and Warren County are meeting today to elect a new Assemblyman from the 23rd district.  Hunterdon Freeholders Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson, and Warren Freeholder John DiMaio, are vying to fill the vacant seat created when Marcia Karrow moved up to the State Senate earlier this month.

And in Union County, Republicans will hold the first-in-the-state gubernatorial convention to award the organization line for the June primary.  Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is favored to win, and former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan is likely to finish second.  The real race is for third place between five-term Assemblyman Rick Merkt and Brian D. Levine, the Mayor of Franklin Township.

Read More >

There are three votes worth watching on Saturday:

1.  In District 23, Republican County Committee members from Hunterdon and Warren counties will meet to elect a new Assemblyman.  Hunterdon Freeholders Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson, and Warren Freeholder John DiMaio face off for the Assembly seat left vacant earlier this month when Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) took her seat in the State Senate.  Hunterdon GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl has promised at least one Assembly seat to Warren County, so if DiMaio loses tomorrow, he'll still be on the organization line in the June primary for the seat Michael Doherty (R-Washington) is giving up to challenge Karrow for the State Senate.  If DiMaio wins the special election convention, Holt and Peterson can fight it out in April for the other Assembly seat.

2. The first-in-the-state Republican gubernatorial convention is in Union County, where former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has a substantial lead among endorsements from party leaders and elected officials.  With former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan seemingly a lock for second place, the real race is the one for third place between five-term Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) and Brian D. Levine, the Mayor of Franklin Township.  There is not a lot of room for another candidate in a field that looks to be as many as seven, and if someone were to break out of the pack, it can be either one or the other.  Merkt may have the edge: his campaign manager, former Hillsborough Councilman Christopher Venis, is a longtime political operative with roots in Union County as an aide to U.S. Rep. Bob Franks and as a member of a Union County-based local political consulting firm.  The other three candidates, Morris County Freeholder Jim Murray, and businessmen David Brown and Dennis Knight, are not participating in the Union County vote.

Read More >

Republican County Committee members in either Hunterdon or Warren counties will return in March for their third special election convention of the year.  They will need to elect a new Freeholder to replace the winner of Saturday’s State Assembly contest in District 23.  All three candidates are Freeholders: Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson in Hunterdon, and John DiMaio in Warren.   Holt’s seat is up in 2009, and there would be special elections in November to replace Peterson or DiMaio.

Read More >

Assemblyman Michael Doherty, who says he would "rather die" than skip a State Senate primary against incumbent Marcia Karrow, but now it looks like keeping his Assembly seat is no longer an option.  Since losing the special election convention for Leonard Lance's Senate seat last month, Doherty has seen some of his top supporters abandon him.  Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio, who has been a top Doherty supporter and longtime friend, will run for Assembly with Karrow on the Hunterdon organization line in the June primary.  Another Doherty backer, Warren County GOP Chairman Douglas Steinhardt, is expected to flip his support and endorse Karrow - possibly as early as today.

DiMaio is one of three candidates competing in a special election convention this month for Karrow's Assembly seat, along with Hunterdon County Freeholders Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson.  With the support of Steinhardt and Hunterdon County GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl, and with the backing of Warren Republican mayors who had supported Karrow over Doherty, DiMaio is the clear front runner.

Read More >

The announcement today that Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck has decided not to run in a special election convention for Marcia Karrow's Assembly seat is good news for John DiMaio.  While it ought not to be assumed that the 54 Republican County Committee members from Hunterdon County who voted for Michael Doherty would have been Peck's votes, the conventional wisdom is that any Peck votes out of Hunterdon would have come at DiMaio's expense. 

Karrow received 125 votes out of Hunterdon on Saturday - one more than Henry Kuhl received in his 2008 bid for re-election as Republican County Chairman.  Kuhl's challenger in that race was Peck, who received 78 votes - 24 more than Doherty did among Hunterdon County Committee members.

Read More >

• Karrow wins Senate seat; calls for unity as Doherty vows to fight her in primary
• Voting underway now in Clinton in a larger context as Lonegan makes an appearance
• Karrow presents herself as rural and local
• Doherty presents himself as the fiscal and social conservative
• Nominating speeches moments away
• It has begun
• Republicans to fill Lance seat today
• With a Senate primary comes two contested Assembly seats
• More than 40 GOP County Committee members didn't show up to elect a new Senator
• Assemblymen beating Senators in primaries are rare
• Karrow will serve on Appropriations Committee
• Next up: the race for Karrow's Assembly seat
• Will Doherty give up his Assembly seat for a second shot at Karrow?
• 25% of Senate entered through special election

Read More >

If Mike Doherty follows through on his threat to challenge Marcia Karrow in the 2009 Senate primary, it means both candidates might recruit State Assembly candidates to run on their ticket in the 23rd district.  Karrow will almost certainly run on the Hunterdon Republican organization line, and Warren has no line in GOP primaries.

Republicans will hold a special election convention to fill Karrow's Assembly seat.  Two Hunterdon County Freeholders, Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson, are among the candidates, and the results of Saturday's Senate election show a clear advantage for a Hunterdon-based candidate.  The loser of that contest could have another shot at the Assembly, if Karrow opts to run an all-Hunterdon ticket.

Read More >

The Republican County Committee in District 23 must now schedule a second special election convention to fill the State Assembly seat of Marcia Karrow, who was elected to the State Senate today.  There are already three announced candidates: Hunterdon County Freeholders Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson, and Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio.  Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck is also mulling an Assembly bid.  Karrow won the seat with 58% of the vote, which demonstrates a clear advantage for a Hunterdon-based candidate.

Read More >