Michael Doherty

Warren County Republicans seem to be uniting behind State Sen. Marcia Karrow, leaving Assemblyman Michael Doherty on his own.

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.

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.

After Marcia Karrow was sworn in as the new State Senator from the 23rd district, a new quorum call was requested.  This was Karrow’s first vote in the Senate, and observers heard her turn to Henry Kuhl, the Hunterdon County GOP Chairman, and say: “Push my button, Henry.”  Kuhl obliged, and Karrow’s first vote in the Senate was cast by her County Chairman.

Kuhl and Warren County GOP Chairman Douglas Steinhardt accompanied Karrow during her brief swearing in cermony earlier this afternoon. Steinhardt backed Assemblyman Michael Doherty in the special election convention for the open Senate seat, and his presence sends a clear signal that Doherty might be losing political support in his Warren County base as he moves toward a primary challenge against Karrow.

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." 

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.

Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.)

UPDATED 

TRENTON - Flattening the back chatter out there that he might return to his Assembly seat in the aftermath of Saturday's convention, where he lost to State Sen.-elect Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.), Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) said he's running in the Republican Primary --"put it in stone."

"I'd rather die than not run in that primary," said Doherty, doubling down on a quote over the weekend that wild horses couldn't keep him from an off the line challenge of Karrow.

"This is going to be a battle between establishment RINOS (Republicans in name only) and conservative true believers," Doherty told PolitickerNJ.com.

Despite a disappointing showing Saturday, Doherty said he means to activate his conservative pro-life base and remains confident that based on past victories over her, he can defeat Karrow.

"As long as RINOs keep throwing me under the bus, they give me no option but to run against them," said the veteran assemblyman, who ran to Karrow's right in their matchup on Saturday, and who means to run to her right in the June primary. 

U.S. Rep. Matthew Rinaldo, who passed away last year, was known for passing up chances to run for higher office.

Michael Doherty might have said that wild horses could not keep him out of the June GOP primary for State Senate, but his fear of being out of office completely might.  Doherty, according to a few of his friends, could back out because he's not quite ready to gamble his $50,000-a-year seat in the State Assembly.  He can threaten a primary challenge to State Sen.-elect Marcia Karrow, but in the end he could also back out and cut a deal to keep his Assembly seat.

Without blatantly challenging the testicular fortitude of the West Pointer, Doherty hasn't exactly shown a willingness to take huge risks in the past.  Indeed, he could be the Matthew Rinaldo of his generation, a reference to the late ten-term Congressman from Union County who was frequently touted as a statewide candidate but never pulled the trigger.

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.

If Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio wants to win Marcia Karrow’s State Assembly seat in the 23rd district, he’ll need to do better than the 56% Michael Doherty received in Warren County in Saturday’s special election convention for State Senator.   DiMaio will need to get about 120 votes out of Warren County – about 30 more votes than Doherty received.  Some pundits say that’s a reasonable vote goal for the veteran Freeholder.

Today, DiMaio announced the endorsements of sixteen Republican mayors from Warren County, including seven of the mayors who publicly backed Karrow for Senate.  DiMaio also has the backing of two newly-elected Warren mayors from towns where the previous mayor had endorsed Karrow late last year.  Winning support from Warren County Republicans who were in the Karrow camp is an essential ingredient to a DiMaio victory – and shows that DiMaio doesn’t have some of the institutional negatives Doherty did in his own base.

• 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