Monmouth Commissioner Sue Kiley received the formal backing of her home county in Freehold on Saturday, receiving 57 votes for the GOP county line.
2020 U.S. Senate nominee Rik Mehta received 33 votes. A third candidate – former Republican National Committee staffer Tom Toomey – didn’t qualify.
–
It’s a decisive but relatively more modest victory than some convention watchers had predicted given Kiley’s status as a well-known county and former local official. Mehta had predicted a competitive race to me on Friday, Save Jerseyans, but the strength of Chairman Shaun Golden’s organization held the line (literally and figuratively).
Incumbent Democrat Frank Pallone is an entrenched incumbent, but Jack Ciattarelli held Phil Murphy to a relatively modest single-digit margin in the Central Jersey district last November giving Republicans hope that the right candidate – in a ‘red wave’ environment – could dethrone Pallone or at least give him the first serious run for his money in many years.
