Monmouth Dems hire Minchello as new executive director

Samantha Minchello is the new executive director of the Monmouth County Democratic Party.

Minchello served as an aide to Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018 and as deputy outreach coordinator for the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance from 2018 to 2019.  She is a former production assistant at CNN American Morning.

Monmouth County remains solidly Republican despite a relatively close voter registration edge.  There are 1,038 more Republicans than Democrats in Monmouth, but the GOP maintains a 5-0 majority on the Board of Commissioners and holds all three constitutional offices.

Donald Trump carried Monmouth by 10,517 votes, 51%-48%, against Joe Biden in 2020.   That was down considerably from Trump’s 29,542-vote win against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

In the 2017 gubernatorial election, Kim Guadagno, who was then the two-term Lt. Governor and a Republican, carried Monmouth by 22,093 votes, 55%-43%, against Phil Murphy.  Guadagno and Murphy are both Monmouth County residents.  Republican Chris Christie won 62% in Monmouth when he unseated Gov. Jon Corzine in 2009 and 71% in his 2013 bid for a second term.

Republican incumbent Susan Kiley faces Democrat Michael Beson, a former mayor of Neptune, in a race for one seat on the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners.  Surrogate Rosemarie Peters, a Republican, is retiring.  The GOP candidate, Maureen Raisch, is opposed by Democrat Leslie Posnock.