One candidate affiliated with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s gubernatorial campaign snagged nominations for State Assembly in each of the 9th and 10th legislative districts, the New Jersey Globe projects, though the dark-red hue of the two Ocean County districts means that no Democrat stands much of a chance of winning come November.
Both winners will now team up with party-backed candidates who ran alone, making for shotgun marriages heading into the general election.
In the 9th district, which covers Ocean County’s sprawling southernmost towns, Democrats chose Lisa Bennett, a former paralegal backed by the county party, and United Nations observer Rosalee Keech, a member of Fulop’s slate. As of 9:18 p.m., Bennett has 39% of the vote, Keech has 37%, and disability advocate Donald Campbell, another Fulop running mate, has 24%.
And in the 10th district, which is based in Toms River and includes some Shore towns in both Ocean and Monmouth Counties, South Toms River Democratic municipal chair Debra Di Donato came in first, a win for Fulop’s ticket, but former interim Essex County Freeholder and party endorsee Janine Bauer came in second. Retired college professor Phil Nufrio, Fulop’s other running mate, finished third; the totals as of now are Di Donato 42%, Bauer 36%, Nufrio 22%.
The districts are two of several around the state where local party organizations didn’t run enough candidates for a full slate, allowing Fulop’s candidates to get a leg up. At least two of Fulop’s four running mates in Ocean County were always guaranteed to make it to the general election, and the question was whether they could do better than that; they apparently could not.
Both districts supported Jack Ciattarelli by more than 35 percentage points in the 2021 gubernatorial election, however, so 9th district Assemblymen Brian Rumpf (R-Little Egg Harbor) and Greg Myhre (R-Stafford) and 10th district Assemblymen Greg McGuckin (R-Toms River) and Paul Kanitra (R-Point Pleasant Beach) will have no trouble winning re-election.