Steve Lonegan is back, Save Jerseyans, launching a long-expected Republican primary bid for the LD24 Senate seat of the retiring Steven Oroho.
Lonegan made his announcement on Bill Spadea’s NJ 101.5 morning program.
LD24 is deep red and yet is becoming one of Election 2023’s most closely-watched districts after all three incumbent Republicans announced their decision to not seek reelection to their respective posts.
Lonegan also formally threw his support behind Lafayette School Board President Josh Aikens and Warren County Commissioner Jason Sarnoski for the two Assembly nominations.
A former Bogota, New Jersey mayor and face of Americans for Prosperity’s Garden State chapter, Lonegan has run for state or federal office seven times. His June opponent – Assemblyman Parker Space – zeroed-in on Lonegan’s long electoral history in a sharply-worded response to the ex-mayor’s campaign announcement.
“How many campaigns does Steve need to lose before he realizes that voters aren’t willing to buy what he’s selling?” responded Space. “The fact of the matter is that Steve Lonegan has lost 8 races for higher office. Each time he’s claimed to be the ‘real conservative’ in the race and each time Republican primary voters have rejected him because what he’s claiming is false. To make matters worse, Lonegan is once against carpetbagging into a district that he never lived in and has no connection to in an effort to hijack an elected office from local residents. It failed when he ran for Congress in South Jersey – despite being from Bergen County – and it’s going to fail even worse here in Sussex, Morris, and Warren Counties.”
“Lonegan has lost races for State Senate (1997), Congress (1998), Governor (2005), Governor (2009), US Senate (2013), Congress (2014), and Congress (2018), leading former President Donald Trump to famously say about Lonegan: ‘He’s always lost. He’s a loser. … Always been a nasty guy. He loses. He’s a loser,'” Space added.
Space is running alongside Sussex County Commissioner Dawn Fantasia and Chester Mayor Mike Inganamort.
