In a rematch of their 2022 congressional campaign, Morris County Commissioner Tayfun Selen (R-Chatham) has defeated Paul DeGroot in the GOP primary for county commissioner, the New Jersey Globe projects.
As of 11:38 p.m., Selen has 54% of the vote to DeGroot’s 45%.
Selen and DeGroot first faced each other last year in the Republican primary for the 11th congressional district, a former swing district that was redrawn to benefit Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).
Selen had the Morris and Essex GOP organizational lines and looked like the clear frontrunner, but DeGroot got a colossal margin out of the district’s small Passaic County section and narrowly won the primary. Though he lost the Morris County portion of the district, it was only by a small 40%-36% margin, impressive for an off-the-line newcomer.
After losing the general election to Sherrill in a landslide, DeGroot announced earlier this year that he’d run once more against Selen, this time in the race for county commissioner. Selen, a former mayor of Chatham Township (and the first Turkish American mayor in the country), was first elected to the role in a 2020 special election convention.
Like in 2022, Selen easily won the Morris GOP convention. But also like in 2022, DeGroot made the race a competitive one, riding off of the name recognition and goodwill he accumulated during his congressional campaign.
DeGroot’s running mates in the 24th and 26th legislative districts also lost their primaries. Running together on the “Regular Republican Party” slate, DeGroot and his allies got Column 1 on Morris County ballots, giving them a boost against the official county party-backed slate – but it wasn’t enough.
Selen will now face Democratic Rockaway Township Councilman Jonathan Sackett in the general election; though Morris County voted for Joe Biden in 2020, the race is not expected to be highly competitive.
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