The US Senate race is down to four candidates after multiple sources reported that Stuart Meissner has dropped out of the race because he says his “narrow path to victory in the Republican primary by seeking the party lines in each of the counties does not afford us a chance to success in such efforts based on recent events.”

I’m assuming “recent events” are Rik Mehta being 7 – 0 in securing county lines.

Meissner’s exit leaves frontrunner Rik Mehta, former gubernatorial and congressional candidate Hirsh Singh, former independent Senate candidate Natalie Rivera and the other former independent Senate candidate Tricia Flanagan still in the race.

Moving on to CD2, based on a report by New Jersey Globe it appears CD2 Republican congressional candidate Bob Patterson is still running, but not competing in the screening/convention process.

I’ve been on the road a lot lately and haven’t been able to pay attention to what was going on in the campaign world, but as usual the New Jersey Globe report was right. Based on the number of times it was forwarded to me, Patterson made it crystal clear he is not taking part in the process via a campaign email.

I get it, Patterson is angry and who knows, maybe it’s a good idea for him not to compete in the county conventions and focus on getting on the ballot and run his primary race, but maybe it’s a bad idea.

The reason I think it is possible that Patterson’s strategy of skipping conventions is a bad idea is that it really is difficult to rig a county convention.

In a previous blog post I used the 2008 Murray Sabrin example that even if you believe the deck is stacked against you that with hard work you can still win conventions. Don’t forget, more recently never-Trumper Bob Turkavage won the Cumberland County convention in 2018, I’m not suggesting there was a fix, just that he worked hard and pulled off a win, I think people are still trying to figure out how he did it.

I don’t know if Patterson’s strategy is a good one. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not judging. Patterson did use the word “apparatchik” in his email, so I’ll give him bonus points for a large vocabulary.

We’re still a long way from June 2nd and a lot can happen between now and then. I’ll just sit back and watch.

I’m sure I’m going to get some crap from some of the campaigns, but Rik Mehta has assumed frontrunner status in the Republican U.S. Senate primary election

New Jersey Globe broke the news last night that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rik Mehta has won the first contest of the convention/screening season.

Mehta won convincingly! According to New Jersey Globe:

Mehta defeated Hirsh Singh by a vote of 138 to 82, with former Monmouth County freeholder Gary Rich finishing third with 11 votes and Stuart Meissner in fourth place with 8 votes.

Two other candidates, Tricia Flanagan and Natalie Rivera, received no votes in Union County.

It was assumed Hirsh Singh was the frontrunner in the race. He has the endorsement of Bill Palatucci, the Republican National Committeeman, and started the race with some name ID, more than the others in the race, from having run for Governor and losing, then dropping a bid for US Senate before switching to Congress in CD2 in 2018 and losing. Palatucci’s endorsement not helping in Union County has to have Singh worried and his social media posts about the convention appear to back that thought up:

Hint: It’s probably not a good idea to attack county committee members as “GOP establishment elite” when you have the endorsement of the state’s Republican National Committeeman. National Committeeman I believe most would argue is “establishment.” This, unlike times in the past, is not a shot at Palatucci. I am on county committee in Gloucester County and the municipal chairman in Greenwich Township – and I can’t believe I am typing these words – part of the same “GOP establishment” as Palatucci. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone will refer to me as part of the “elite.”

Gary Rich finishing third was kind of shocking. The guy has been in the race for about two weeks and he managed to squeak by Stuart Meissner who has been working hard for several months. It’s not shocking because of his length of time in the race, it’s shocking because Rich was an incumbent freeholder and told by his county party that they wanted to go in another direction. It’s not often an incumbent is asked not to run for re-election.

Tricia Flanagan, a past client of mine, and Natalie Rivera should be rethinking their campaigns after getting zero votes against Rich and Stuart Meissner. Rich has been running for about two weeks. And, less than a year ago on July 5th, Meissner was praising Democratic party candidate for Queens, NY District Attorney Melinda Katz on Twitter:

I’m not trying to be mean, but when you get zero votes against a guy who has been in the race for two weeks that means the voters had very little faith in you. Add to that getting zero votes at a Republican convention against a guy who was praising a Democrat on social media less than a year ago, it might be time to quit.

If I wanted to be mean I would call out Flanagan for her social media posts claiming to be the only pro-life candidate running for U.S. Senate when it is obviously not true:

Flanagan knows she is not the only pro-life candidate in the race. Natalie Rivera is pro-life, I’ve heard her say it with my own ears when Flanagan was in the room standing right next to me.

Singh has said he is pro-life.

I don’t know where Rich stands on the issue and I don’t care because to be an incumbent and asked not to run for re-election by your own party means you probably have some issues. And Meissner praising a Democrat running as a progressive for Queens District Attorney who also happened to be endorsed by radical extremist Philly DA Larry Krasner is way too big a RINO for me.

And, the new frontrunner in the race, Rik Mehta is pro-life. I know because I asked him directly and county committee people have been getting a mailer that clearly states he is pro-life (now I’m wishing I snapped a picture of mine).

To be fair, I don’t know if Flanagan researched Singh’s position on the issue and she is not a county committee member in her county so she wouldn’t have seen the Mehta mailer. With that said, I have no doubt she was well aware that Rivera is pro-life, because as I said, I have been in the room with Flanagan when Rivera has stated her position. My point is do not say you are the only pro-life candidate when you know at least one other candidate is pro-life – it’s dishonest.

And with that, I’m done being mean, if calling a candidate out for being dishonest is mean.

Thanks to Union County holding the first contest of the season and a convincing victory, over 50% in a 6-way contest, we have a new frontrunner in the race for U.S. Senate in Rik Mehta. That means Mehta now has a target on his back.

With that said, to all the candidates please stop with the “He/she was a Democrat” garbage. President Donald Trump was a Democrat. Vice President Mike Pence, as a teenager, was the youth coordinator for the Bartholomew County Democrats. Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. Rudy Giuliani was a Democrat committeeman on Long Island in the 1960s. And, let’s not forget that Frank Rizzo served two terms as Mayor of Philly as a Democrat and died while running for mayor as a Republican.

Switching from Democrat to Republican is a good thing. Our party and our President are celebrating Congressman Jeff Van Drew’s party switch. If you were in Wildwood, and I’m pretty sure all of the U.S. Senate candidates were, you were part of that celebration.

I’m not saying don’t attack each other, that would make me a hypocrite. Besides I love watching a good street fight. I am saying, if/when you launch an attack make it a legitimate attack. And, please, if you attack prove what you say.

There’s a candidate posting on social media: “I was the only NJ US Senate Candidate at Pres Trump’s NJ Rally Tuesday. That conveys everything necessary to know about the NJ GOP Primary!” The problem is every GOP U.S. Senate candidate was there and it was easy to check which means this particular attack is completely false and deserves to be called out.

Updated before posting: Because I do believe in being fair. I checked before posting. The above mentioned candidate updated the I was the only “Candidate at Pres Trump’s NJ Rally” post with the following: “Apparently there were other U.S. Senate Candidates attending the rally — I didn’t see a single one while I was out there meeting people! Please feel free to share pictures of the other Candidates who were also there shaking hands with our great NJ Constituents. I’ve looked & tried to do my due diligence, I don’t see any.”

The post was updated after users commented that the post was a lie. The candidate obviously didn’t look too hard, so much for due diligence. There are plenty of pictures of the candidates meeting voters, maybe not shaking hands, but definitely meeting voters and many posed pictures.

So, the only thing left to say is: Congratulations Rik Mehta on a convincing win in the first convention of the season and earning frontrunner status.