Megan Moench, a top Republican fundraiser and the Bridgewater GOP Municipal Chair, is mulling a bid for Somerset County Commissioner, the New Jersey Globe has learned.
Democrats hold every countywide office; Republicans, who controlled Somerset for most of the last century, last won in 2016.
But the two incumbents up for re-election this year, Shanel Robinson and Sara Sooy faced a relatively close race in 2021 after Bridgewater Councilman Michael Kirsh came within 842 votes of ousting Sooy; Robinson led the other GOP challenger, Watchung school board member Amber Murad, by 2,670.
Two Democratic county commissioners, Douglas Singleterry and Paul Drake, romped to 6,000-vote pluralities.
Moench, the sister of Bridgewater Mayor Matthew Moench, has close ties to Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and could run to boost his chances to win a second term – and possibly to set up a second run in 2025.
The flip of Somerset from red to blue began in 2017 when Democrat Steven Peter unseated GOP County Clerk Brett Radi. Democrats won two freeholder seats in 2018, one in 2019, and the last two in 2020. They captured the sheriff’s post in 2018 and surrogate in 2020.
In the days of legendary Somerset County Republican Chairman Luke Gray, who ran a formidable political machine out of his floral shop for thirty years before he died in 1984, the focus was always maintaining Republican control of county government.
In 1965, Gov. Dick Hughes carried Somerset, and a Democratic challenger came within 400 votes of beating a Republican State Senator. However, Republican Jack Ewing, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, beat Democratic Freeholder Grace Gurasic by more than 4,000 votes to end the Democratic majority on the Freeholder board after just one year.
In 1973, a 26-year-old North Plainfield Councilman, Frank Nero, won a freeholder seat in the Watergate-related Democratic landslide. Nero didn’t seek re-election in 1976 – he lost a race for Congress against Rep. Millicent Fenwick (R-Bernardsville) — but Democrat Michael Ceponis kept the seat in Democratic hands. Ceponis won again in 1979 but lost in 1982 when Christine Todd Whitman beat him.