Labarbera defeats Smith in race for Sussex GOP chair

Joseph Labarbera, the president of the Skylands Tea Party, was elected Sussex County Republican Chair tonight, defeating Candice Smith by seven votes, 66 to 59.

He succeeds Jerry Scanlan, who is retiring after eight undefeated years as county chairman.

Labarbera comes from the faction of the Sussex Republicans that were on the losing side of a fiercely competitive Republican primary for State Assembly in the 24th district.  His supporters include Kelly Ann Hart, the GOP vice chair, County Commissioners Bill Hayden and Herb Yardley, and toxic political consultant Bill Winkler.

His election opens the door for Winker’s return.

Barbara Holstein was elected vice chair as part of a sweep by Labarbara’s slate.

A Hopatcong school board member, Smith had the backing of State Sen. Steve Oroho, Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths, County Commissioners Dawn Fantasia and Jill Space, and Republican county commissioner candidate Jack DeGroot.

Labarbera, a retired U.S. Army major, had endorsed Steve Lonegan during his short-lived GOP Senate primary against Space earlier this year and backed Yardley for re-election; Yardley lost by a 23-point margin to DeGroot, a 24-year-old farmer and former high school basketball star.

Fantasia and Chester Mayor Mike Inganamort carried Sussex County in the GOP Assembly primary.

Fantasia is a lock to win the general election – Sussex County hasn’t sent a Democrat to the legislature since Robert Shelton won in the 1973 Watergate landslide – and the Sussex GOP county committee will need to meet in January to select a new county commissioner to serve the remaining year of her term.

Sussex is largely a one-party county – Democrats have not elected a state legislator since 1973 and haven’t won a countywide election since 1999 – so Republican primaries are not unusual.