Michael Doherty

Warren County Freeholder Director John DiMaio today formally endorsed Assemblyman Michael J. Doherty (R-Washington Township) for the 23rd District state senate seat U.S. Rep.-elect Leonard Lance is vacating to go to Congress.

"I have worked side-by-side with Mike as a member of the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He has a strong work ethic and he has always taken the correct stand on difficult issues,” said DiMaio in a statement.

“Mike is a true friend of families and taxpayers as evidenced by his record as a Freeholder and Assemblyman. Mike Doherty is one of the most focused individuals that I have worked with in my 28 years of elected service,” the freeholder director added. “When the little guy needs a hand, Mike is always ready to help out. Mike has earned my respect and he will be a great asset to all of us in the 23rd District as our next Senator."

When Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.), who’s running for state senate, saw a press release showing 14 Hunterdon County mayors lining up behind Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington) for the seat yesterday, he assumed there was a reason for it.

It wasn’t because they’re from Karrow’s native county, while Doherty is from neighboring Warren County. Rather, Doherty said it was because he introduced a bill early this year that seeks to expand the “Lance Amendment” – which bans state borrowing without voter approval – and expand it to municipalities and county governments.

“I’ve never got so much feedback from elected officials saying stay out of our business, we’re going to make these decisions, and Marcia Karrow is adamantly opposed to that issue,” said Doherty.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan today endorsed fellow conservative Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.), an assemblyman, for the state senate.

"Mike Doherty is a man of principle, and a true champion of the taxpayers. As I have traveled the State of New Jersey to support various conservative issues, Mike has always been by my side to fight for smaller government and lower taxes,” said Lonegan. “As an elected official, Mike has never voted for a new tax. He knows that the solution to our problems is cutting spending, not increasing taxes.”

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington) flexed her Hunterdon County political muscle today, touting the endorsements of 14 of the county’s Republican mayors for her state senate candidacy.

"I am both humbled and encouraged that the elected officials that know me best, the ones that I work with on a day to day basis, support my decision to seek the Senate seat,” she said in a statement.

Union Township Mayor Frank Mazza called Karrow a “principled conservative” and a “force to be reckoned with.”  Hampton Maor Rob Walton praised Karrow’s full-time commitment to the job, saying that “there is no question in my mind that Assemblywoman Karrow is the best choice to succeed Leonard Lance in the Senate.”

Peterson (left) in 2007, after Lance (right) swore him in as a freeholder

Outgoing state Sen. Leonard Lane (R-Clinton) is not willing to endorse a successor for his seat, but he is helping a candidate for one of the assembly seats that’s going to open up in his legislative district.

Hunterdon County Freeholder Erik Peterson is likely to run for assembly, and Lance, who’s moving up to the House of Representatives next month, is helping him plot his campaign.

“I am very interested, and I am currently working with my political mentor and friend, Leonard Lance, on preparing on making a formal announcement and kicking off my campaign for the seat,” Peterson told PolitickerNJ.com today. 

As the battle to replace outgoing state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) takes shape, the two declared candidates are beginning to make incursions outside of their home bases.

Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington Township), a Warren County legislator who began his campaign a day after he learned that Lance was moving up to Congress, feels encouraged by the response he’s received from the Hunterdon County committee men and women he’s met on the campaign trail so far. But some insiders argue that Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington), a Hunterdon County native who just made her candidacy official last week, should not be counted out among the Warren County committee members, despite local contentions that the county will be in lock-step behind Doherty.

A third candidate, Hunterdon County Freeholder Matthew Holt, appears to be ready to run, and will formally announce his bid either next week or the week after.

The county committee members from Hunterdon and Warren Counties will meet in either January or early February to decide who gets to be Lance’s interim replacement in the state senate. In June, a primary will be held to determine who gets to remain on the ballot for the November general election, when voters will select a candidate to fill the two remaining years of Lance’s term in this safely Republican district.

This race is more complicated than a regional battle between the Hunterdon and Warren County Republican organizations.

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow and Hunterdon County Freeholder Matthew Holt are both potential candidates for Leonard Lance's 23rd district State Senate seat

Assemblyman Michael Doherty seems to be playing out of the Bill Baroni playbook: Doherty is rapidly rolling out endorsements to scare the Assemblywoman from his district out of a race for an open State Senate seat.  Two weeks after Leonard Lance won a seat in Congress, the Doherty for Senate campaign is in high gear, and Marcia Karrow has a deer-in-headlights thing going on as she mulls her own chances to move up to the Senate. 

Karrow, according to Republican leaders that have spoken with her, believed her Hunterdon County base would propel her to victory in a special election convention where the voters as GOP County Committee members.  But Karrow is reportedly frightened to give up her Assembly seat and move up to the Senate, just to be taken out by Doherty in a Republican primary, where the conservative Warren County legislator might have an advantage.  If Karrow passes on the race (she may have to now that she's lost two crucial weeks in a short campaign -- Doherty is now the strong front runner to succeed Lance), it is because of her fear of being out of a job after just one year in the State Senate.

One possible miscalculation by Karrow: Doherty is a blinker who has already passed up a number of chances to run for higher office, including a primary challenge against Lance last year and a race for the U.S. Senate.  Had Karrow been the incumbent Senator, it's possible that Doherty would have blinked and not given up his Assemblys seat to run for Senator.

Warren County Freeholder John DiMaio says he'll run for the State Assembly if Mike Doherty moves up to the Senate

Warren County Freeholder Director John DiMaio announced today that he is seeking the 23rd  District Assembly seat being vacated by Assemblyman Michael Doherty (R-Washington).

“I believe the County of Warren’s 'pay as you go' philosophy is a model that the State of New Jersey could learn from," DiMaio said.

A former mayor of Hackettstown where he also served as a councilman and was a candidate for the Republican Nomination for the assembly in 2005, DiMaio serves as the second vice chairman of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, the federal funding agency for the State of New Jersey’s 13 northernmost counties. 

It’s a week after the election, and the dust has yet to settle on the race to take over the state Senate seat of Leonard Lance (R-Flemington).  But one thing has been constant since Wednesday: Assemblyman Mike Doherty (R-Washington) is gunning hard for the seat, and has already started his door knocking campaign across pastoral Hunterdon and Warren Counties.

“I have my list and I have my Garmin, which certainly helps navigate some of our rural roads in the dark,” said Doherty.

There are roughly 400 county committee members from the two counties that comprise the 23rd Legislative District, and Doherty plans to visit every one of them (many are husband and wife teams, which helps cut down on the number of doors to knock on). Last night, he began his campaign, visiting committee members in Glen Gardner, Bethlehem and Hampton.

After Lance resigns his seat to move up to Congress in January, those committee members will decide who gets to fill in for Lance in Trenton until the June primary and special election in November.

Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Flemington), who has also expressed interest in the seat, has a slight geographical edge.  Hunterdon County has a larger population than Doherty’s native Warren County, and has about 40 more county committee members.

That’s why Doherty has begun by focusing on Hunterdon County Committee members.

“I initially focused on some Hunterdon county folks, but I’ll hit folks in the two counties,” he said.

Karrow could not be reached for comment.  Several Republican sources said today that she’s having second thoughts about running, given Doherty’s strong support by conservative groups.

Warren County Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt said that Doherty can count on nearly unanimous support from the Warren County committee members.  Even if Hunterdon County does field a candidate, he said, Doherty will be able to sap enough votes from their members to win.