Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner won the Bergen County Republican convention tonight, giving her the organization line in the county that casts the fourth-highest number of votes in a statewide GOP primary.
Serrano Glassner won an seven-candidate field with 254 votes, defeating Curtis Bashaw (200), Fred Schneiderman (99) and Alex Zdan (80). Albert Harshaw received 3 votes, followed by Brian Jackson (2) and Justin Michael Murphy (1).
The victory marks a comeback of sorts for Serrano Glassner, who entered the race days before Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges. A former George W. Bush administration official with close ties to Donald Trump, she was the early frontrunner for the chance to take on Menendez.
But in recent weeks, Bashaw has emerged as the frontrunner after winning conventions in Ocean, Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset and securing party endorsements in seven South Jersey counties.
Schneiderman, a Cresskill businessman, is mounting a one-county strategy to propel himself into the GOP Senate nomination. Schneiderman has not competed in any of the other counties and is betting his campaign on a home county line in Bergen.
The Bergen County Republican Policy Committee, which screens candidates in advance of the convention, backed Serrano Glassner by one vote over Schneiderman, 17-16. Close behind were Zdan (13) and Bashaw (12). Four votes were cast for two other candidates.
Serrano Glassner has secured organization lines in Morris, Hunterdon, Union, Hudson, and Warren counties and needed a big county line like Bergen—if the lines survive a legal challenge seeking to abolish them. In 2020, Bergen County represented 8.5% of the total votes cast in the statewide GOP primary, the fourth largest in the state.
Bashaw is a right-of-center Republican who will find himself on the ballot with Trump, even though he’s opposed him three times. New Jersey Republican insiders don’t appear bothered by Bashaw’s past opposition to Trump or his apparent ties to former Gov. Chris Christie.
Zdan, a former News 12 New Jersey reporter, won the Monmouth GOP convention and a screening committee vote in Passaic. He’s been aggressively campaigning in Bergen County.
