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 Jack Ciattarelli gave up his 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.
There is also speculation that Somerset County Republicans, under the leadership of a new county chair, Tracy DiFrancesco, are looking to run a candidate in the 21st district. One potential candidate is Bernards Township Mayor Jennifer Asay.
Sources close to DiFrancesco confirmed that she is looking at engaging in next year’s primary.
That could force two incumbent assemblywomen, Nancy Muñoz (R-Summit) and Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence), into a contested primary. Some Republicans view Muñoz, a legislator since 2009, as the more vulnerable of the two.
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.
In the last 23rd district legislative primary, Warren County made up 46.7% of the votes, followed by Somerset (26.9%) and Hunterdon (26.4%). State Sen. Doug Steinhardt (R-Lopatcong) and DiMaio are from Warren and Peterson is from Hunterdon.
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%). Still, Union holds all three legislative seats.
Republicans in Somerset could be seeking to belatedly enforce a fourteen-year-old deal that would have given them the next open Assembly seat.
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.
Some gubernatorial politics are also involved: DiFrancesco is backing Ciattarelli for governor; Muñoz and Matsikoudis are with Bramnick.
Carra, 28, was first elected to the Raritan Borough Council in 2016 at 20; that’s the job that launched Ciattarelli’s career when he was also in his 20s. He was elected mayor in 2023, outpacing Democrat Pablo Orozco by nearly nineteen percentage points in a politically competitive municipality. Carra is a former aide to State Sen. Kip Bateman (R-Branchburg), who retired in 2021.
DiMaio and Peterson announced today that they would seek re-election as a team, with the support of Steinhardt.
“For 15 years, their proven leadership in Trenton stands as a testament to their dedication, experience, and focus on getting things done for New Jersey’s families,” Steinhardt stated. “They truly listen, offer support, and tackle every challenge—big or small—for the people they serve.”
Asay would be the first pharmacist in the New Jersey Legislature since Assemblyman Frank Pelly (D-North Brunswick) lost his seat in the 1991 anti-Florio Republican landslide.
Republicans have not yet announced who will face Democratic incumbents Roy Freiman (R-Hillsborough) and Mitchelle Drulis (R-Raritan Township) in the Democratic-leaning 16th district Assembly race.
The 17th and 22nd districts are not winnable for the GOP.