Long list of GOP candidates emerge for 3rd district Assembly seats

Two State Assembly seats in deep South Jersey that Democrats flipped in 2023 are atop the GOP target list this year, but with the filing deadline just 75 days away, Republicans don’t have clarity on their candidates, and it’s possible there will be a primary.

In the 3rd legislative district, which includes Salem County and parts of Cumberland and Gloucester, Republicans should have a shot at unseating freshmen Heather Simmons (D-Glassboro) and Dave Bailey, Jr. (D-Woodstown).  Jack Ciattarelli won the district by sixteen points in 2021; that helped the GOP oust two Democratic assemblymen and Senate President Steve Sweeney.

Right now, three Republican county organizations are looking at how they can claim one of two seats in the primary.  But in a likely lineless primary, there’s no guarantee that voters will necessarily ratify the two candidates backed in an agreement between county chairmen.  In other words, it’s possible that one county could wind up with both seats – if that’s the way the voters go.

Former Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer (R-Woolwich) is expected to seek a return to the lower house; she was one of the Republicans who flipped a Democratic seat in 2021, but gave up her seat in 2023 to challenge incumbent Ed Durr (R-Logan) in the GOP Senate primary.

Sawyer may not be the choice of the Gloucester County GOP, but after running in 2019, 2021, and 2023, she could wind up being the most recognizable name in the field.

Other candidates out of Gloucester include County Commissioner Chris Konawel, Harrison Mayor and Republican County Chairman Adam Wingate, and Harrison Deputy Mayor Lawrence Moore, a former aide to Sawyer.

In Salem County, prospective candidates include two county commissioners, Ed Ramsey and Mickey Ostrum, and Salem County Republican Chairman Linwood Donelson III, the president of the Salem County Special Services and Vocational Technical Schools Board of Education and a former Lower Alloways Creek school board member.

Cumberland County Republicans appear to have coalesced behind County Commissioner Arthur Marchand.

Former Assemblywoman Bethanne McCarthy Patrick (R-Mannington) and Hopewell Vice Mayor Tom Tedesco, who lost to Simmons and Bailey in 2023 by about 1,300 votes, are not expected to run again for the legislature.

Gloucester comprised 60.8% of the GOP primary votes cast in the 2023 primary, with 29.5% from Salem and 9.6% from Cumberland.  But Salem voters are accustomed to finding candidates on the ballot without county lines; the Cumberland County GOP Chairman, State Sen. Michael Testa, Jr. (R-Vineland), could equalize the smaller electorate in his county by raising money and putting his own political organization behind Marchand.