Bridgewater councilman enters race for Somerset commissioner

Bridgewater Councilman Michael Kirsh will seek the Republican nomination for Somerset County Commissioner in a bid to unseat first-term Democrats Shanel Robinson and Sara Sooy.

Republicans are seeking to claw back seats on the Board of Commissioners after three successive losses in countywide election gave Democrats a 5-0 majority.

“Somerset Republicans cannot afford an extended period ‘in the wilderness’ and must strike back with the strongest possible tickets over the next several years,” said Kirsh, who is also the Bridgewater GOP municipal chairman.  “The comeback starts right here and right now.”

Kirsh won a council seat in 2019 with 57% of the vote in the county’s largest municipality, running on a slate with the new Mayor, Matt Moensch.

Sixteen years ago, Kirsh had also won a seat as a township committeeman in Green Brook.

“County residents are counting on an immediate renaissance of the Republican Party,” Kirsh said.  “Many I have spoken with don’t fully realize the dramatic lurch to the left we have seen, and that Somerset County is now exclusively controlled by the very same party that caused many to come here in the first place, abandoning Democrat-dominated cities and counties.”

Republicans believe they have a chance to regain two county commissioner seats with favorite son Jack Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman from Hillsborough, heading the Republican ticket as a candidate for governor.

“I have spoken with nearly all the other municipal Chairs over the last two weeks. There is great enthusiasm for my candidacy and the prospects for victory from Jack at the top of the ballot, through our various Legislative candidates, the County Commissioner ticket, and the critical local races,” Kirsh stated.  “I have pledged that the Commissioner race will be vigorously contested across all 21 Somerset County municipalities.”

The deadline for Republicans seeking to participate in the Somerset GOP screening and convention process comes at midnight.

Robinson and Sooy unseated Republican incumbents Mark Caliguire and Patrick Scaglione in the 2018 freeholder race, giving Democrats their first wins since Michael Ceponis was elected in 1979.

Democrats won one more seat in 2019, giving them their first majority since the Lyndon Johnson was president in1965, and two more in 2020.