Cresskill businessman Fred Schneiderman has dropped his bid for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, a move that had been widely anticipated after his third-place finish at the Bergen County GOP convention last week.
Schneiderman said without the Bergen line, “the road to a primary victory would be challenging.”
He had not competed in any of the other counties and is betting his campaign on a home county line in Bergen.
But Schneiderman kept the door open to rejoining the race if U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi rules to abolish organization lines, reopens the filing deadline, and orders the primary to be postponed.
“I, along with my team will evaluate the next best steps,” Schneiderman said. “In the meantime, as the country is in peril with our current leadership, I’ve been approached and have met with several leaders of New Jersey’s Republican Organizations.”
Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner won a seven-candidate field with 254 votes in Bergen last Tuesday, defeating Curtis Bashaw (200), Schneiderman (99), and Alex Zdan (80). Albert Harshaw received 3 votes, followed by Brian Jackson (2) and Justin Michael Murphy (1).
Zdan dropped out of the race this morning.
He said he’s had “in-depth discussions” with Hudson County GOP Chairman Jose Arango about “becoming a prominent figure in the organization, as together we believe we can work in concert with all New Jersey Republican groups to take back our nation, state, and counties from the abyss.”
“The importance of a cohesive non-divisive Republican strategy will only enhance the probability to obtain a Republican elected positions in New Jersey,” Schneiderman said.
This is Schneiderman’s second bid for office. He briefly challenged Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) in New Jersey’s 5th district two years ago, but dropped out after military and overseas ballots had already been mailed out. He received 629 votes, about 2%.
Former Trump campaign and White House advisor Kellyanne Conway was advising the Schneiderman’s House bid, and he had signed on Larry Weitzner of Jamestown Associates, one of the top Republican media firms in the nation.
But Schneiderman never wrote the kind of personal check some thought he would, and watched Nick De Gregorio win the organization line in Bergen and Frank Pallotta get party support in Passaic and Sussex. As of the end of March, Schneiderman had raised $279,842, more than half of it from a personal loan.