By Matt Rooney
Everyone (shockingly) wants to be the NJGOP chair, arguably the most thankless job in all of Republicandom after November 4th.
The frontrunner iS Monmouth GOP Clerk Christine Hanlon, but other interested parties including Jersey 1st’s Rosemary Becchi, WakeUpNJ X influncer Michael (he doesn’t routinely use his last name), and now Steve Lonegan are all actively campaigning for the post. But you don’t get a vote, Save Jerseyans. Neither do I. Ultimately, the decision is made by a relatively small pool of county chairmen and state committee members who will voted to replace Glenn Paulsen who resigned after this year’s election. The process more closely resembles a papal conclave than a political party convention where competing factions vie to win and, more often than not, to keep an opposing faction from gaining too much pull.
What’s clear is the need for something new and better at the NJGOP.
“For far too long, the New Jersey Republican Party has been content to manage decline instead of fighting for revival,” Lonegan said in a Wednesday statement announcing his candidacy. “We’ve watched our state become more expensive, more overregulated, and more hostile to working families—while our Party leadership has lacked the energy, courage, and vision to stand up and win. That ends now.”
All of that is undeniable. Steve has seen it firsthand, as has yours truly.
The real question for our moment: what can anyone realistically do about it through the vehicle that is the organizational Republican State Committee?
Garden State Republicans now find themselves in their weakest position since the aftermath of Watergate. There’s no obvious 2029 contender on the horizon, the legislative map for 2027 is dog sh*t thanks to redistricting, and with little to offer in terms of hopeful prospects for majority status under the Dome, fundraising will prove harder than ever. Bulding a revitalized NJGOP is going to be a chore for anyone willing to take up the mantel.
That’s why I would like to see a coalition approach.
Ordinarily, a single individual takes the chairmanship either because a gubernatorial nominee wills it or the party bosses settle upon a compromise candidate. He is part fundraiser, part figurehead, but rarely impactful on a party governed Games of Thrones style (by a loose network of local warlords). It’s been a long, long time since that approach yielded a winner. After November 4th? It’s all hands on deck time. So let’s have regional chairs. Grassroots positions. Social media leadership. Committees dedicated specifically to outreach among black voters, Hispanic families, and young Americans desperately trying to scale the socioeconomic ladder. There’s no reason that just about everyone who wants to be chair can’t be a part of the path forward. There’s more than enough work to do.
This is a test. Can the NJGOP’s senior leaders pull together and start fresh? Setting aside the old feuds in a moment of crisis to help the coalition heal and start growing again? We’ll know when we see what emerges from the NJGOP sweepstakes.
