Primary Election Day in New Jersey features collisions in both parties, as Republicans and Democrats try to figure out their identities against the backdrop of trials, both decided and hanging in the balance.
In the case of New Jersey Republicans, they have a chance today to prove they aren’t handcuffed to convicted felon Donald Trump, found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial.
Running for a U.S. Senate seat, businessman Curtis Bashaw doesn’t back Trump’s presidential candidacy. Alert to Bashaw’s disloyalty and eager to stop a so-called “RINO,” Trump supports Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner for the senate seat.
“I was going to stay out of it but you’re running against a [former Governor Chris] Christie person,” Trump said onstage at a rally in Wildwood last month.
Ironically, though, Bashaw is on the line with Trump in big GOP vote-generating counties Ocean and Monmouth.
Edge: Bashaw.
As for the Democrats, Hudson County has a chance to break all ties with indicted sitting U.S. Senator Bob Menendez by overthrowing his son, sitting U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, Jr.
Is the name Menendez too tough to overcome in any weather in Hudson County?
Today’s election will reveal that answer.
In addition to running while his father stands trial for public corruption following an investigation into his business dealings with three men who have ties to Egypt’s government, the young Menendez faces the additional challenge of his first Democratic Primary unaided by the once powerful Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) line. A judge’s ruling earlier this year dispensed with bracketing in the Democrats’ contest, which boosts the candidacy of challenger Ravi Bhalla, the mayor of Hoboken.
Line or no line, the establishment candidate will likely live or die on the intensity of organization summoned on his behalf.
That gives Menendez an edge.
In addition, young Menendez can make the case that he’s not his father, while Republicans struggle to reconcile their lip-locking of Trump with their rejection of the United States Justice system.
Establishment Democrats in New Jersey like to think they wisely gave Menendez the heave-ho, as opposed to Republicans, who want their radioactive, corruption-riddled guy to be president.
Menendez can make the case that unlike Trump, he isn’t convicted.
Trump can make the case that he isn’t convicted yet either, at least not on the pending charges of sedition connected to Jan. 6th, 2020.
As for the hush money case, Democrats are already all over him.
“For the first time in American history, a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency,” Biden told a crowd last night at a fundraising event in Greenwich, Connecticut.
But back to Jersey.
Another contest to consider today is CD-3, where two credible opponents seek to succeed U.S. Rep. Andy Kim in the U.S. House of Representatives: Assemblyman Herb Conaway and Assemblywoman Carol Murphy. Kim, of course, is running statewide to succeed Menendez in a Democratic Primary that also features the candidacies of activists Larry Hamm and Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina.
In addition, the Passaic County Democratic Committee will try to hold onto power today as it looks to fend off the candidacy of a come-backing Jerry Speziale, the former sheriff seeking his old post in a rundown with fellow lawman Tom Adamo, who has the support of the party organization. The Speziale-Adamo tilt has mostly revolved around questions regarding the candidates’ Democratic Party credentials, with each cop trying to brand the other a Trump toady.
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