Sussex County Republican Chairman Jerry Scanlan will not seek re-election to the post he’s held for nearly eight years, retiring with a near-perfect record of Republicans winning for federal, state, county, and local office.
“It has been a great run, but all good things must come to an end,” Scanlan said in an email to county committee members this morning.
Scanlan departure sets up a June 21 election to pick his replacement.
“I look forward to supporting whomever you decide to elect as my replacement and doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition,” he said.
Since becoming county chairman in 2015, no Democrat has carried Sussex County for any office. Scanlan said he was “near certain that we have lost only one position once in a November Municipal race in a partisan town.”
While Scanlan remained popular with Republican officials and party leaders, he’s decided to move on to the next stage of his life.
“I have been away for six weeks on my first epic adventure, backpacking solo nearly 600 miles across Spain and completing my first Camino. It will not be my last,” said Scanlan. “With that time, I had a lot of opportunity to reflect on the past and plan for my future.”
Sussex Democrats will also get a new county chair following an announcement last week that Dawne Rowe will not seek re-election.
Scanlan’s retirement follows a transition in Sussex’s legislative delegation – Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho and Assemblyman Hal Wirths are retiring, and Parker Space is moving up from the Assembly to the Senate (all three are Scanlan allies) – and competitive primaries for State Assembly and county commissioner. Scanlan remained neutral in the primary, where he had several friends in the race.
The next chairman will be tasked with the disposal of Bill Winkler, the toxic longtime Sussex GOP strategist who split with party leaders this year. After 24-year-old farmer Jack DeGroot defeated two-term County Commissioner Herb Yardley by a wide margin earlier this week, Republicans will almost assuredly hold a special election convention in January after Dawn Fantasia moves from the county commission to the State Assembly.
Following the resignation of Ailish Hambel in 2015, Scanlan defeated Donald Ploetner to become the new county chairman. Hambel succeeded Richard Zeoli in 2009.