Four GOP county chairs endorse Muñoz and Matsikoudis for re-election

All four Republican county chairs in the 21st legislative district will back Assemblywomen Nancy Muñoz (R-Summit) and Michele Matsikoudis (D-New Providence) for re-election next year, a move that largely sets aside speculation that Somerset County Republicans might try to drop Muñoz and claim the seat for themselves.

Somerset County GOP Chair Tracy DiFrancesco, who has been interested in going from zero Republican legislators from her county to a higher number, has signed on to an endorsement list that includes Laura Marie Ali (Morris), Rob Bengivenga (Middlesex) and Carlos Santos (Union).

Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) have already endorsed Muñoz and Matsikoudis.

Seventeen of the nineteen GOP municipal chairs in the 21st are also with Muñoz and Matsikoudis: Eric Probst (Berkeley Heights); Scott Mitzner (Bernards), Peter Hoffman (Chatham Borough); Ron Rubino (Chatham Township); Robert Seader, Sr. (Dunellen); Kim Salmon (Garfield); John Lore (Green Brook); Edwin Gerecht (Long Hill); Steve Greco (Middlesex); Rene Dierkes (Mountainside); John Everitt (New Providence); Karen Sweeney (Peapack and Gladstone); Jerry Fernandez (Springfield); Nick Curiale (Summit); Dan Gallis (Warren); Maria Dahl (Watchung); and Sam Della Fera (Westfield).   That leaves the local Republican leaders of Middlesex Borough and Bernardsville as the lone holdouts.

“We are proud to have the widespread support of county and local Republican leaders throughout District 21,” said Muñoz and Matsikoudis.  “We believe these endorsements are a testament to our strong record of advocating for smaller government, safer communities, and lower spending in Trenton, and we look forward to continuing to share this record with every resident of District 21 heading into next year’s election.”

The 21st district seats are potentially competitive next year. Kamala Harris carried the district by twelve percentage points last month; in 2021, Republican Jack Ciattarelli won the district by 290 votes, running about three-tenths of one percent in front of Gov. Phil Murphy.   Andrew Macurdy, a former federal and state prosecutor, is seeking the Democratic Assembly nomination.

Changing demographics and redistricting have left Somerset without any Republican legislators.  The county once dominated the 16th district, but now Somerset has been chopped up into parts of the 16th, 17th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd districts.

Harris won the 16th district by fourteen points.

Somerset County cast the most votes in the 21st district primary in 2023 (41.3%), followed by Union (37.3%), Morris (16%), and Middlesex (5.3%).

In the days following the 2011 legislative redistricting, the new map put Bernards Township, where 16th district Assemblywoman Denise Coyle (R-Bernards) lived, into the 21st with Jon Bramnick and Nancy Munoz.

To avoid a primary fight, Union County agreed to cede the next available Assembly seat to Somerset in exchange for giving their organization line to Bramnick and Munoz. Coyle became a casualty of redistricting and did not seek re-election.

But the deal was made between two county chairs who were no longer in office when then-Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean (R-Westfield) declined to seek re-election in 2021 to concentrate on his congressional run. Bramnick moved up to the Senate, and Union County Republicans picked a new candidate, Matsikoudis.

DiFrancesco allies had floated Bernards Mayor Jennifer Asay as a possible Assembly candidate, but she quickly denied interest and said she would back Muñoz and Matsikoudis.

Raritan Mayor Nicholas Carra is expected to seek the Republican nomination for State Assembly in the solidly Republican 23rd district, setting up a serious bid by Somerset County Republicans to reclaim a footprint in the New Jersey Assembly that disappeared seven years ago when Ciattarelli gave up his 16th district seat to run for governor.

Carra would take on incumbents John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown), the Assembly minority leader, and Erik Peterson (R-Franklin) in next year’s likely lineless Republican primary.