Camden GOP moves county chair election

The election for Camden County Republican chairman will be pushed off until June 21 after some party officials complained that the original reorganization meeting set for tomorrow evening wasn’t consistent with state law.

The county chairman, Richard Ambrosino, announced this weekend that he would not seek re-election to the post he’s held since 2017.  He’s endorsed Tom Crone, a political operative who spent four years as executive director of the county party organization, as his successor.

Crone most recently served as campaign manager for Ian Smith’s bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 3rd district.

A new state law adjusts municipal and county reorganization dates – meetings that had been held on the Monday and  Tuesday evenings following the primary election – to be completed by July 9.   County committee races – none were contested in the Camden GOP primary last week – have not yet been certified.

Crone faces a possible challenge Nicole Nance, a Cherry Hill Republican who lost a township council race last year.

Complicating a county chair race for Nance is her public endorsement of last month of Patricia Kline, an independent running against Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) in New Jersey’s 1st district.  The county chair would be expected to back the GOP nominee, former Collingswood school board member Claire Gustafson.