The chairman of vote-rich Ocean County’s Republican Party is sticking with his horse in the U.S. Senate primary notwithstanding Donald Trump’s decision to endorse the other candidate.
“…the plurality Ocean County gave President Trump was the third highest in the Country by margin of victory,” George Gilmore explained in a statement obtained by Save Jersey. “However, the support of Donald Trump is not easily transferrable to another candidate for another office. Curtis Bashaw earned the endorseGment of Ocean County Republicans. He supports closing the boarder to stop illegal immigrants from entering the United States through our southern border. He is for lower taxes and less government regulation, and he is for parental rights against overzealous state and board of education regulations. He has stated his support for President Trump.”
Trump nevertheless endorsed Christine Glassner, mayor of Mendham, at his record-setting Wildwood rally over the weekend.
“She’s a fantastic woman; I’m giving her my complete and total endorsement,” said Trump. “They said her [opponent] is a Christie person, so I said I’m endorsing you immediately.”
Former Governor Chris Christie hasn’t endorsed in the race, but Bashaw – a real estate developer and hotelier based in Cape May – did donate $3,300 to Christie’s doomed presidential run last fall.
Trump endorsements don’t always work, but they can prove a boon for candidates who are able to capitalize on them by raising money from small donors. Neither U.S. Senate candidate in this year’s GOP primary contest has posted impressive fundraising numbers to date meaning that Glassner now has an opportunity to garner the funds to amplify Trump’s backing but is also running short on time to do so.
Gilmore described his own county organization’s decisions in the now-concluded nominating contest as “irreversible.”
“Since the Ocean County Republican Organization endorsed Curtis Bashaw for U.S. Senate back on February 29, 2024, and the ballots are being printed, that endorsement is irreversible. Ocean County GOP will stand by its endorsement of Curtis Bashaw for U.S. Senate,” Gilmore added.
The Ocean powerbroker’s announcements comes admid a concerted push by Glassner and her team to capitalize on the Trump endorsement by pressuring county organization into switching teams; as of Saturday, Bashaw boasted a super majority of county “lines.” According to one source, Glassner left a voicemail on Saturday evening advising that she has “a call on Monday with the Trump camp and I need to let them know who’s with me and who’s not with me.”
“I am in receipt of your voicemail of May 11, 2024… wherein you demand that I tell you where I stand on your candidacy because you have to report me to the ‘Trump camp’ by tomorrow,” Cape GOP Chairmn Michael Donohue responded to Glassner in an text shared with Save Jersey. “Frankly, the not so subtle threatening attempt at intimidation is below a serious contender for a statewide office. However, since you demanded that I do so, I have provided my response to the Trump camp and would ask that you please pass it on.”
Donohue reports writing to the president as follows:
My name is Mike Donohue and I am the Chairman of the Cape May County Regular Republican Organization. I and my Organization unequivocally support your candidacy for President in 2024, just as we did in 2016 and 2020. We also similarly support the candidacy of Curtis Bashaw for United States Senate. Curtis represents our best chance to beat the Democrats in November and send a Republican to the Senate to be your partner when you are back in the White House. Despite what you may have been told about Curtis, he has and continues to support you. Over the past several months, Curtis has unashamedly told thousands of New Jersey Republicans that he voted for you in 2016 and 2020 and intends to be your running mate and fully support you in 2024. I support Curtis for many reasons but most importantly I have found that you and he are cut from the same cloth. Curtis is a true patriot. He cares about working families. He will work with you to close the border, support law enforcement, empower parents in our schools and restore the Trump economy that helped so many Americans flourish during your first term. Our support of Curtis in no way diminishes our respect and support of you for President. We fully expect that come June 5th, we will be working with you to send Curtis Bashaw to the United States Senate.
The whole episode sheds light on the – for lack of a better word? – weirdness of palace politics in the Age of Trump in which courtiers battle for the king’s graces in a manner worthy of an HBO series. Gilmore, who was pardoned by Donald Trump before leaving office, is a close ally of ex-Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien whose consulting client (Bill Spadea) just landed a near-endorsement from the 45th president on Friday. Glassner’s husband (Michael Glassner) is a close ally of President Trump and served as a chief strategist for the 2020 reelection campaign. Meanwhile, long-time Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and Trump television ad guru Larry Weitzner have formed a relatively new PAC – Kitchen Table Conservatives – to attack Gilmore’s preferred gubernatorial candidate… Bill Spadea.
The Ocean County GOP endorsed Bashaw for U.S. Senate back in February by a 76% to 23% margin and, consequently, Bashaw will appear in “Column B” with the other county-backed candidates (Republicans still have a line in Ocean unlike Democrats due to an injunction granted at the federal level). Ocean is the premiere prize in GOP statewide primary contests. In 2016, deep red Ocean County (with a population of 600,000) delivered to Donald Trump a nearly 100,000 vote margin of victory.
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Editor’s Note: the author works at the same firm as Michael Donohue, a source for this story as cited above.
