Michael Doherty

Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl's vote total in his 2008 re-election campaign was nearly identical to the number of County Committee votes Marcia Karrow won in Hunterdon in the special election convention for State Senator.

Marcia Karrow won a State Senate seat by 42 votes, 195-143, boosted by receiving 70% of the vote (125-54) in her home county of Hunterdon and by holding Michael Doherty to 56% (89-70) in his home county of Warren.

Voter turnout in Hunterdon was 86%; thirty Republican County Committee members from Hunterdon County did not show up to vote today.  GOP County Chairman Henry Kuhl told PolitickerNJ.com this week that there were three vacancies out of 212 seats.

Karrow's vote tally in Hunterdon (125) was nearly equal to the votes received by Kuhl (124) in his 2008 re-election bid.  But while Kuhl's opponent, Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck, received 78 votes, Doherty won just 54.
 
All but a few of the 181 County Committee seats in Warren were filled.  Today, 159 votes were cast from Warren County.

Eldridge Hawkins, a three-term Assemblyman, challenged Senate President Pat Dodd in the 1977 Democratic primary. He lost.

Assemblyman Michael Doherty says he'll seek the Republican nomination for State Senator against soon-to-be incumbent Marcia Karrow in June.  "Wild horses couldn't prevent me from running in that primary," he said.  Over the last 32 years, six Assembly members have taken on incumbent Senators in primaries, but only two have won.

The last sitting member of the State Assembly to beat an incumbent Senator in a primary was Leanna Brown, who beat James Vreeland in the 1983 Republican primary.  That same year, Senator Joseph Bubba defeated Assemblyman Terry LaCorte in the GOP primary. 

In 1993, State Senator Richard Codey beat Assemblyman Robert Brown in the Democratic primary.  Most recently, in 2003, Assemblyman LeRoy Jones unsuccessfully challenged Senator Nia Gill in the Democratic primary.

The 1977 primary election -- the same one where nine Democrats challenged incumbent Brendan Byrne in the Democratic gubernatorial primary - two Senators faced primary challenges from former running mates:  Charles Yates, a Democratic Assemblyman from Burlington County, ousted Senator Edward Hughes in the Democratic primary; and Assemblyman Eldridge Hawkins took on Senate President Frank "Pat" Dodd in the Democratic primary and lost. (Hawkins finished third, with tennis great Althea Gibson running second.) 

Senator-elect Marcia Karrow, who was elected a few hours ago, will get an open seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to senior Senate Republican staffers.  Karrow, who serves on the same panel in the Assembly, is taking the Senate seat of Leonard Lance, who was elected to Congress.  The Appropriations Committee seat also belonged to Lance.  Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. has offered the ranking Minority slot on Appropriations to Anthony Bucco, who had been actively challenged for the slot by Kevin O’Toole.

State Sen.-elect Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) won Leonard Lance's 23rd district seat with 58% of the vote in a special elecion convention held today.

Marcia Karrow's impressive 58%-42% victory in a special election convention for Leonard Lance's State Senate seat will force Michael Doherty to choose between a Senate bid in the June Republican primary and keeping his seat in the State Assembly.   Karrow won 195-143 in a race many insiders thought would go to Doherty, one of the Legislature's most conservative members.

Senator-elect Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan) won a special election convention today with 58% of the vote. She'll replace Leonard Lance, who was elected to Congress.

CLINTON - Running as a homegrown conservative who knows the difference between hay and straw, Assemblywoman Marcia A. Karrow of Raritan Twp. prevailed here over Assemblyman Michael Doherty of Washington Twp. in the special 23rd District convention, 195 to 143 to votes. 

Despite what most observers conceded was a sizeable victory in this rural western legislative district and Karrow's from-the-podium call for unity in a gubernatorial election year, Doherty said he intends to fight on and face the senator-designate in the June Republican Party primary.

"I would hope he would abide by the voice of the people in the district," Karrow told reporters moments after her victory. "I won by 25%, and we need to have unity in the state. The Democrats are very well organized. We need to focus on the governor's race. We need to focus on defeating Jon Corzine."

But Doherty said he's dug in to claim the senate seat U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) gave up last year when he won his 7th District Congressional race.

Although admittedly surprised by the results of this convention, Doherty took a grassroots view of the situation and said he likes his chances in a head-to-head with Karrow away from the halls of party power. 

Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.)

CLINTON – His name’s in and Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) strides across the stage in front of the burgundy curtain, a 45-year old retired Army captain, 6 ft. 2 and ramrod at the podium now, telling the crowd he wants government out of people’s lives and out of their wallets. 

To win today, Doherty will need to prove he did the political legwork in Hunterdon County, which has about 40 more county committee seats than Doherty’s Warren County.  His allies say he has them, thanks to his vanguard role as a movement conservative, and it doesn't take long for the boom to come into his voice as he tries to prove his viability. 

“I’ve run in a lot of hard primaries, ladies and gentlemen, but I’m the senior guy for a reason,” Doherty cries. “Voters are pretty smart. They know who the Reagan conservative is. I’m always been the top voter, ladies and gentlemen, in Hunterdon and Warren counties."

State Sen. Minority Leader Thomas Kean (R-Union) and Hunterdon County Freeholder William Mennen to his immediate left.

CLINTON TWP. - Hackettstown Mayor Michael B. Lavery nominates Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.) and Raritan Twp. Mayor Richard O'Malley backs him up.

"Mike has an overwhelming passion to vote against taxes, as you see in your packets, he's voted 103 times against taxes," O'Malley tells the packed house.

In the back of the crowd stands State Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Union).

"I'm neutral," says Kean of the Karrow-Doherty showdown. "I will support the Republican nominee."

He removes an envelope from his pocket.

"There is a senate pin in there that I will present to the winner," says Kean.

Today is Election Day in parts of Hunterdon and Warren counties, where members of the Republican County Committee from the 23rd legislative district will hold a special election convention to replace Leonard Lance in the State Senate.  Lance resigned from the Senate on January 3 to take his seat in Congress.

Two Republicans are seeking to replace Lance: four-term Assemblyman Michael Doherty, 45, a former Warren County Freeholder and West Point graduate; and Marcia Karrow, 49, a two-term Assemblywoman who has served as a Hunterdon County Freeholder and as Mayor of Raritan Township.

 Doherty is viewed as one of the most conservative members of the Legislature and has mulled bids for higher office in recent years, including an exploratory committee for the 2008 U.S. Senate nomination.  He was he only legislator to back Ron Paul for President in the last election.  Karrow, a graduate of Smith College, has masters degrees from the University of Michigan and CUNY.  She  is viewed as a moderate and has the backing of the Hunterdon County Republican organization and eight mayors from Warren County.

The winner will get sworn in to the Senate at their next session, now scheduled for February 23.  The Senate contest will trigger another special election convention to fill the soon-to-be vacant Assembly seat.

A new State Senator will be elected on Saturday to replace newly-elected U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton).

Tomorrow is Election Day in Hunterdon County, where Assemblyman Michael Doherty and Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow will face off in a special election convention to replace Leonard Lance as the State Senator from the 23rd district. Lance resigned his State Senate seat earlier this month to take his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Doherty is widely considered to be the front runner, but insider contests decided by County Committee members can produce some surprises in a race where no polling of a finite universe of voters has been conducted.  Either way, District 23 Republican County Committee members will need to return soon to fill the soon-to-be vacant Assembly seat of the winner.  Three Freeholders - Matthew Holt and Erik Peterson of Hunterdon and John DiMaio of Warren - are already announced candidates for the Assembly.  A fourth candidate, Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck, is also mulling an Assembly bid.

Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck

Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck acknowledged today that he is mulling a run for the Assembly in the 23rd District. 

“It’s certainly something I’m considering, and it’s a matter of where I think I can make the most difference,” said Peck, who failed in his 2005 primary bid for the Assembly, and last year challenged Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl and lost.

“We needed new direction and new energy in the Republican Party and to date I’m pleased to see a lot of the reform aspects I called for have been adopted,” Peck said of his challenge to Kuhl. “The party is more open and inclusive, they’re having more lower-cost events, they have a website up and running, and there is more of an effort to communicate electronically.”