Norris Clark

It appears that Ocean City Republican Municipal Chairman John McCann will be the new assembly candidate in the 1st Legislative District.

No one else submitted a letter of intent to the district’s three county chairs by today’s 4:30pm deadline.  

McCann replaces Upper Township Committeeman Frank Conrad to run with Mike Donohue, an attorney from Dennis Township, against incumbents Matt Milam (D-Vineland) and Nelson Albano (D-Vineland).

“I look forward to completing the statutory process to confirm John as my running mate.  We have important battles to fight on behalf of the people of South Jersey who yesterday got hit with yet another Corzine budget that raises their taxes and reduces their chances for prosperity,” said Donohue, who endorsed McCann soon after Conrad dropped out. 

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Former assembly candidate Norris Clark has not completely ruled out running to fill a vacancy in the 1st Legislative District, but he acknowledged facing several serious obstacles to making another go for it.

Citing business obligations, Upper Township Committeeman Frank Conrad dropped out of the race over the weekend, leaving Dennis Township attorney Michael Donohue, who ran with Clark in 2007, as the only remaining candidate in what is expected to be the most competitive district in the state.  Although Clark talked to Cape May County Republican Chairman David Von Savage about running after hearing of the vacancy, Ocean City GOP Chair John McCann had already started rolling up support and important endorsements.  

“I have never stopped considering another run for Assembly, as I am very interested in public service, and I believe the Democrats are taking us in the wrong direction at the state level,” said Clark, who had set up an exploratory committee leading up to the election.

Clark said that there are four factors that tend against him mounting an internal campaign: his own work commitments; the lack of interest shown by Donohue in running with him again; that McCann is already “in sync” with Donohue’s campaign; and that he is interested in running for Cape May County freeholder the next time the all-Republican board has a vacancy.

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The Republican organizations of Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic Counties each have just over a week to pick a new running mate for assembly candidate Mike Donohue.

The organizations have set a deadline of Friday at 4:30pm to receive letters of intent from interested candidates, and each will vote separately on a candidate before by 4:30pm on Wednesday, July 1.  

It remains to be seen if it will be a contest.  Former candidate Frank Conrad dropped out over the weekend, leading Ocean City Republican Municipal Chairman John McCann to immediately start campaigning to replace him.  McCann wrapped up an endorsement from Donohue and party officials from the district’s towns in Cumberland and Atlantic Counties, but there have been some rumblings of interest from Norris Clark, who ran in 2007.

Despite expressing interest to party leaders in Cape May, Clark has not yet filed any letters of intent or contacted officials from the other two counties.  He could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Upper Township Committeeman Frank Conrad has dropped his bid for State Assembly in the first district - where Nelson Albano (D-Vineland) and Matthew Milam (D-Vineland) are considered the most vulnerable incumbents in the Legislature.  Conrad is citing business and person reasons, but sources strongly suggest that a key reason for ending his Assembly bid is that he could not get along with his running mate, Mike Donohue, or his campaign manager, Peg Emberger.

Donahue has endorsed Ocean City GOP Municipal Chairman John McCann, a former Cape May County Board of Realtors president, to replace Conrad on the GOP ticket.  But McCann does not yet have a lock on a special GOP convention that must be held to pick a new candidate.  Norris Clark, who ran with Donohue in 2007, is reportedly considering a run.

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Vineland businessman Sam Fiocchi said today will seek the Republican nomination for State Assembly in the first district, which is expected to be one of the most competitive legislative races of the year.

"It's just the state of affairs in New Jersey. I've been a small businessman," said Fiocchi, a Vineland resident who heads up a family run irrigation company.  "It's difficult to operate in this business environment, and I'm a Republican. I always felt if you want to make change, you have to step up and do something about it."

Three Republicans have submitted letters of intent to party leaders of the three counties that make up the southernmost legislative district in New Jersey.  They'll compete for two spots on the county lines to take on incumbent Democrats Nelson Albano (D-Vineland) and Matt Milam (D-Vineland).

The district is politically competitive, and both parties view Albano and Milam as vulnerable, especially without the benefit of State Sen. Jefferson Van Drew (D-Dennis) at the top of the ticket.

Michael Donohue, an attorney from Cape May County who came close to winning an assembly seat in 2007, is running and is expected to have no problem securing the party nod.  The real competition will likely be between Fiocchi and Upper Township Committeeman Frank Conrad.

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With limited opportunities to pick up State Assembly seats in November, Republicans are expected to pour extensive resources into the state's southernmost tip - a traditionally Republican area currently represented by three Democrats.

"You look at the map, and District 1 is definitely their number one priority," said Monmouth University pollster and political science professor Patrick Murray.  "It's going to be tough. Cape May is a huge Republican County.  It's going to be a year where we're not going to have a high turnout.  You're going to get the voters who vote every year, and they're going to be Republicans down there."

The first district is made up of Cape May County, a large part of Cumberland County and a small part of southern Atlantic County.

Republicans see the district's total Democratic control as a fluke brought about by state Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Dennis), the most conservative Democrat in the Senate whose coattails in 2007 are credited with helping his two assembly running mates, Nelson Albano (D-Vineland) and Matt Milam (D-Vineland) across the finish line.

This time, Van Drew isn't on the ballot.  Instead, Albano, who's in his second term, and Milam, a freshman - both from Cumberland County -- are below an unpopular Democratic governor and are likely to face at least one Republican candidate who comes from Cape May County - a Republican stronghold that dominates the district.

Dennis Township Attorney Michael Donohue, who came up about 2,000 votes short of Milam in 2007, plans to run again, and will likely have the support of Republican leaders.

Upper Township Committeeman Frank Conrad, who owns three small businesses in the district, has submitted a letter of intent to run, but he's been pretty quiet about it Read More >

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Last year, with the popular state Senate candidate Jeff Van Drew heading up the ticket, Democrats swept the election in the 1st Legislative District. 

But after a narrow defeat last year, Republican Michael Donohue said today that he’s seriously mulling another bid for the Assembly seat, and that 2009 will likely be more advantageous for Republicans than 2007.

“I think it’s going to be very competitive, and I’m thinking about it,” said Donohue as he sat for breakfast with the Republican delegation this morning.

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Republicans think their best chance to pick up Democratic Assembly seats next year is in the first district, where incumbents Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam are expected to seek re-election. Democrats swept the district in 2007 when Jefferson Van Drew ousted Republican incumbent Nicholas Asselta in a hotly contested State Senate race. Milam won by 2,020 votes - one of the closest races in the state; Albano was re-elected to a second term by 5,319 votes. Without Van Drew on the ticket, the GOP is optimistic.

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The new class of legislators isn’t even seated yet, but that won’t stop us from speculating about the Assembly election in 2009.

Granted, two years is a political eternity, and which party will hold an advantage in that time depends most heavily on who’s at the top of the ticket. But when the new Assemblymen and women take their places in Trenton early next year, there will be 25 freshmen – several from competitive districts. Those represent the best opportunity for each party to knock off some incumbents.

Right now, however, from this great distance, it doesn’t appear as though any new districts will come into the fold, or that control of either legislative body is likely to shift. Indeed, it’s more likely that 2009 will see a smaller number of districts in play.

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A Zogby poll conducted for the Press of Atlantic City and Richard Stockton State College shows Democrat James Whelan leading GOP State Sen. Sonny McCullough by a 50%-37% margin, and the race between Republican State Sen. Nicholas Asselta and Democrat Jeff Van Drew to be a statistical dead heat.

Van Drew, a three-term Assemblyman, leads Asselta by a 45%-42% margin. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 5%.

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