Chris Konawel and Lawrence Moore won the backing of Gloucester County Republicans for their bid for State Assembly in the 3rd district at the party’s convention tonight, which also unanimously endorsed Jack Ciattarelli for governor.
Konawel, a two-term county commissioner, and Moore, the deputy mayor of Harrison, defeated former Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer (R-Woolwich) for the county GOP endorsement and use of their slogan on the June 10 primary ballot in their bids to unseat freshmen Democratic lawmakers Heather Simmons (D-Glassboro) and Dave Bailey, Jr. (D-Woodstown).
Moore won 58 votes, Konawel received 49, and Sawyer finished third with 35. Sawyer’s running mate, former Municipal Court Judge Jason Witcher, did not participate in the Gloucester convention.
In the 4th district, teacher Amanda Esposito received 47 votes in her bid for a rematch against first-term Assemblymen Daniel Hutchison (D-Gloucester City) and Cody Miller (D-Monroe). But in the race for the second spot on the Republican slate, Winslow school board member Jerry McManus beat Barbara McCormick, a nurse and U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Iraq by one vote, 32-31. Winslow Township Committeeman Brandon Glikas filed but did not attend. McManus and Esposito were running as a team.
Former Gloucester County Sheriff Jonathan Sammons, who lost re-election in 2024 by 569 votes, was picked to run for county commissioner with 116 votes. His running mate, businessman and philanthropist Byron Driscoll, the owner of the popular Mount Royal Inn, also won the endorsement with 89 votes. Sammons and Driscoll outdistanced Carmen Zampaglione (55), a former Gibbstown mayoral candidate, and Woolwich Township Committeeman Craig Frederick (41).
After two Republican county commissioners, Nick DeSilvio and Chris Konawel, won second terms last year, the GOP must oust incumbents Frank DiMarco and Denice DiCarlo to win control.
Sammons beat five-term Sheriff Carmel Morina in 2021 on his second try, taking out the incumbent by 1,565 votes, 51%-49%. Morina mounted a comeback last year to regain his old job.
Another Republican Assembly candidate in the 3rd, Salem County Commissioner Edward Ramsay, dropped out of the race on Monday.
Salem Republicans had endorsed Ramsay and Konawel, while Republicans in Cumberland endorsed Ramsay and Moore.
Simmons and Bailey narrowly won election to the Assembly in 2023, when they defeated their Republican opponents, including incumbent Bethanne McCarthy Patrick (R-Mannington), by a little more than 1,000 votes.
McCarthy Patrick did not seek a return to the legislature; instead, she sought party support to run for Salem County Surrogate but did not win the endorsement.
Sawyer won her Assembly seat in 2021, but challenged then-state Sen. Ed Durr (R-Logan) in the primary for the district’s state senate seat in 2023. Durr defeated Sawyer’s primary challenge but lost to state Sen. John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro) in the general election. Moore is a former aide to Sawyer.
In the governor’s race, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and Monica Brinson filed letters of intent to compete in the Gloucester convention, but could not find anyone to nominate them. Durr declined to compete in his home county convention.
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