January 23, 2009 - 9:08am
Inside Edge

23rd district GOP County Committee will elect a new Senator tomorrow

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.

There will be a November special election to fill the remaining 26 months of Lance's Senate term, but since the Assembly is up this year, the winner of the special election convention for either the Doherty or Karrow seat will serve until January.

Camden County Democrats have already held their special election convention to fill the State Senate seat of newly-elected U.S. Rep. John AdlerJim Beach, who was the Camden County Clerk, has already been sworn in.

 

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.