Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glasner scored her second GOP convention victory in as many nights, defeating businessman Curtis Bashaw, 152 to 62 (66%-27%) to win the Republican organization line for the U.S. Senate in Union County.
Perennial candidate Gregg Mele, the 2021 Libertarian candidate for governor who is making his fifth bid for public office, finished third with 16 votes (7%). Steve Boston, an entrepreneur from Ocean City, had filed a letter of intent but didn’t attend and was not nominated.
Former News 12 New Jersey reporter Alex Zdan did not compete in Union County.
Serrano Glassner, a former Bush administration appointee with strong ties to former President Donald Trump, won the Hunterdon convention last night by a 57%-35% margin. These are the first two Republican conventions of the cycle. She’ll run on a line with Trump and Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), a staunch ally.
She was nominated by State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), an announced candidate for the 2025 Republican gubernatorial nomination; Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence) seconded Serrano Glassner. Kean was an early endorser of Serrano Glassner and knocked on doors to help her win Hunterdon. She also had the backing of Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit).
Bashaw, a real estate developer and hotelier, was nominated by Scotch Plains GOP Municipal Chairman Joe Sarno; Roselle Park Councilman Joe DeIorio seconded him. Chris Novak, the Union Township GOP municipal chairman, nominated Mele.
Five other Senate candidates, including former Tabernacle Mayor Justin Michael Murphy and Cresskill businessman Fred Schneiderman, did not participate.
The race included some role reversals: Bramnick, a moderate who has refused to back Trump, endorsed Serrano Glassner, the pro-Trump conservative. Bashaw is a moderate who has declined to support Trump in the past, but says he’ll back the entire GOP ticket in the fall.
The New Republic reported that Serrano Glassner “scrubbed nearly her entire campaign website after being caught for plagiarism.” They found entire sections of her policy proposals were “lifted word for word” from the website of J.D. Vance, a Republican U.S. Senator from Ohio.