Onuoha wins Middlesex GOP line for race against Pallone

Christian Onuoha scored his second landslide convention win and will run on the Middlesex County Republican organization line in his bid to unseat Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-Long Branch) in New Jersey’s 6th district.

Onuoha, 27, defeated 25-year-old Sammy Gindi by a vote of 70 to 22, a 76%-24% margin.

At the Monmouth County GOP convention last month, Onuoha beat Gindi by a 49 to 9 vote to secure that line.

Gindi has told the New Jersey Globe that he planned to run in the June primary regardless of the convention outcomes.

The race against Pallone, 68, is an uphill one.  The chairman of the powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee was re-elected with 64% in 2018 and has held the seat since 1988.

Onuoha, whose parents were Nigerian immigrants, challenged Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin last year and lost by a 2-1 margin in a district that is overwhelmingly Democratic.

In the 12th district, Republicans gave their organization line to Old Bridge Councilman Mark Razzoli.

Razzoli switched parties last year to take on Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).

The votes were cast online after Middlesex County GOP chair Lucille Panos cancelled the convention as a cautionary measure to stop the spread of the coronavirus.