The feud between two Jersey Shore Republican chairmen isn’t cooling down after this week’s shocking election results which included at least five Assembly losses.
On Wednesday, Save Jersey reported on Monmouth Chairman Shaun Golden’s call for a “better understanding the steep losses this ticket incurred in the Ocean County portion of the district.” Democrat Avi Schnall of Lakewood defeat GOP Assembly incumbent Ned Thomson on Election Day in LD30, a district split between Lakwood and the Monmouth portion of the formerly deep red district.
Ocean GOP Chairman George Gilmore responded to our story – and Golden’s criticism – in a Thursday statement released to the media.
“I wish Shaun Golden didn’t let his attempt at postelection spin get in the way of the facts. If Shaun wanted answers to the results of the LD30 Assembly race, he should have called me,” said Gilmore. “I would have explained to him – as anyone who knows New Jersey politics knows – that the vote results from Lakewood for the LD30 race was a byproduct of the significant voter turnout of the Orthodox community. The Orthodox community in Lakewood wanted to have an Orthodox representative elected to the LD30 assembly seat. The results were predictable–the Jewish community voted overwhelmingly (90%) for Schnall over Ned Thomson. This was a local issue, not a partisan one.”
“The Ocean County Republican Organization performance was a bright spot on a dark night for Republicans in New Jersey. We did not lose one incumbent Republican elected official in partisan municipal elections,” Gilmore continued. “Unfortunately, our neighbors to the north in Monmouth County cannot say the same. Our Ocean County Commissioner Frank Sadeghi and our Surrogate Jeff Moran both won by over 53,000 votes, each receiving over 70% of the votes.”
Gilmore was referring to the Democrat sweep in LD11, the same district where Gilmore has been accused of having a tactical alliance of sorts with the victorious incumbent, Senator Vin Gopal.
The Ocean chair took particular umbrage with Golden’s observation that Jack Ciattarelli carried the district without any issue a couple of short years ago.
Golden and Gilmore are lined up on opposite sides of the emerging 2025 gulf inside the party establishment; Golden is a Ciattarelli supporter and Gilmore is a close ally of NJ 101.5’s Bill Spadea.
“In regard to Chairman Golden questioning the outcome of the assembly race, he points to ‘… Jack Ciattarelli’s outstanding performance in Lakewood just two short years ago.’ Let’s compare apples to apples. Ciattarelli received 12,505 votes against Murphy’s 7,820 in 2021 in a year in which voter turnout in Ocean County was 48%,” Gilmore added. “Ciattarelli received 61.12% of the vote with a victory margin of 4,685 votes. In this current election, Senator Singer received 22,046 votes against Democrat Dobbins’ 1,871 votes in a year when voter turnout was only 31% in Ocean County. Senator Singer received 91.92% of the vote with a victory margin of 20,175. Assemblyman Kean won 88% as well this year. Not only did Senator Singer and Assemblyman Kean outperform Jack in terms of victory margin, they did it in a year where turnout was 17% lower countywide.”
