It looks like the regional fight between Burlington and Ocean Counties in Southern Jersey that came out in the GOP primary to suceed Rep. Jim Saxton may be spilling over into the general election, much to the benefit of the Democrats.
The infighting between the two county GOP organizations has been simmering for some time. In the wake of Ocean County’s nominee Jack Kelly getting trounced in the primary by Burlington’s Chris Myers, Ocean County’s GOP chair, George Gilmore, issued a warning:
“Chris Myers ran a very negative, personal attack against Jack Kelly. I think Mr. Myers has to recognize the consequences of taking such action.”
This is interesting for several reasons. First, the anger between the two county organiztions is very bitter, and has not healed since Tuesday. Ocean County and its GOP leadership is much more conservative and combative than Burlington, and this is well demonstrated by Gilmore himself.
Second, Gilmore is completely capable of cutting of his nose to spite the GOP’s face. In fact, he has done it before. Early in the campaign, soon after Saxton announced his retirement, many in the state and national GOP were trying desperately to coax popular moderate State Sen. Diane Allen into the race. Allen would have unquestionably been the GOP’s best nominee, and probably would have held the seat for the GOP. The problem? Allen is from Edgewater Park Township in Burlington County, and this did not gibe with Gilmore who announced he would put a separate Ocean candidate if Allen ran. After Gilmore put up a stink, Allen opted to avoid the headache of fighting with Ocean County and Gilmore and not to make a go of it, much to the chagrin of the NRCC.
Third, Gilmore is the head NJ’s GOP County Chairmen as well as the head of one of the GOP’s most powerful (and last remaining) Republican machines. If he decided to snub Myers, it would guarantee that we win the seat.
In sum, Gilmore has already hurt the GOP twice in this race by helping force Sen. Allen out of the race, and then running Kelly to weaken eventual winner Myers. Let us hope he continues acting stupid.