There’s a Republican State Committee meeting tonight in Central Jersey, Save Jerseyans, and the state committee will be asked to consider a proposal to eliminate the June 4, 2024 presidential primary election.
You read that correctly!
Under the radical proposal, the presdiential primary (where hundreds of thousands of New Jersey registered Republicans can be counted on to cast ballots) would be replaced by an insider convention with delegates selected by party leaders, likely sometime in March 2024. The move would disenfranchise countless voters notwithstanding the fact that the national nominating process is ordinarily all-but resolved by the spring.
The plan – which is viewable by clicking here – was allegedly catalyzed by concerns over whether the RNC would give the NJGOP a waiver in light of the fact that our primary election would take place slightly after the deadline to submit the names of our state delegates to the 2024 national convention in Wisconsin. Here’s the presidential primary replacement proposal delegate breakdown:
Basically, each party leader gets to invite “guests” who would vote on the candidates. There would only be 50 at-large “grassroots” delegates out 640 participants.
“We have also eliminated the option of opening the convention to all registered Republicans in the State of New Jersey due to the challenges that would present from an execution perspective,” the NJGOP memo explains. “We do not believe we could successfully manage an event without proper planning for potentially tens of thousands of participants.”
The proposed convention would be limited to 400-750 delegates.
I spoke to multiple county chairman today and couldn’t find a single one supportive of the plan which reportedly was only added to tonight’s agenda on Sunday evening.
“[A]ll registered Republicans must have a chance to choose among qualified candidates,” opined Dough Steinhardt, a state senator and chairman of the Warren County GOP, in a letter to NJGOP Chairman Bob Hugin shared with Save Jersey. “Regardless of the reasons, this backroom deal looks like we are trying to rig the election for – or against – a particular candidate. That’s what Democrats do, not Republicans.”
“Next, we have achance to elect a U.S. Senator for the first time in over 50 years,” added Steinhardt. “Bob Menendez is a crook and thiefwho sold his office for cash, gold, and a Mercedes Benz. We want to drive voters to the polls on June 4, 2024, energized to pick a presidential candidate and replace crooked Bob Menendez. This destroys that chance, too.”
Steinhardt prefers pursuing a new waiver for the state.
Somerset County Republican Chairman Tim Howes, who has also served as an NJGOP attorney for various election matters was equally direct with his criticism.
“Most of our party already believes that election integrity is a major problem,” Howes lamented to Save Jersey. “Why on earth would we validate their worst fears?”
