Republican National Committeeman Bill Palatucci has rescinded his endorsement of Hirsh Singh in the July 7 U.S. Senate primary and is now endorsing Rik Mehta.
Palatucci says he made the decision to endorse Mehta after a Singh campaign advisor repeated an unsubstantiated allegation against former Gov. Chris Christie on social media.
“Such a ridiculous statement. Your insulting and false posting has convinced me to drop my endorsement of Hirsh, which I made over a year ago, and to actively and aggressively support Rik Mehta,” Palatucci said on Facebook. “I just got my ballot in the mail and I will now fill it out and include a vote for Rik.”
Palatucci’s claim of a recent conversion to Mehta may not be entirely genuine.
More Monmouth Musings, an influential conservative political news site, reported that Palatucci was walking Mehta around a Monmouth GOP fundraising event on January 31.
Matt Friedman of POLITICO first noticed Palatucci’s Facebook post.