NEWTON – Occupying the northern summit of the great Garden State, Sussex County is unique for a number of reasons.
It’s rural and not very crowded for the most part, but in contrast to most of the state, it’s very Republican.
But that doesn’t mean political battles are unprecedented.
A few months ago, the county Republican establishment essentially declared war on one of its own, County Commissioner William Hayden, accusing him of fabricating his military service.
They want Mr. Hayden to resign, but Mr. Hayden has refused.
There is currently a primary election involving five candidates (not Hayden) for two seats. Technically, it’s for two candidates, but Democrats don’t really matter here.
Incumbent Chris Carney and Alan Henderson are running as a team. The other incumbent, Earl Schick, is running alone.
Then there’s the team of Robert Kovic and Harvey Roseff. of Conservative ticket.
Last week’s candidate forum hosted by the Strauss Newspaper Group was largely civil, but as has been the case lately, social media is different.
And that’s when we meet the unlikely pairing of Chris Christie and Joe Biden.
Both appear in recent messages from Kovic and Losev.
Candidates claim “Chris Christie insiders” are running Sussex County and now is the time to “drain the swamp.” That’s when I saw a picture of Biden.
County Republicans are being urged to “vote” for Mr. Trump and, by extension, Mr. Kovich and Mr. Losev.
This is politics at its “best.”
When running in the Republican primary, associate your opponent with a Democratic president, an unpopular former governor (in Republican circles), and associate yourself with Trump.
The fact that neither of these three have any connection to the 2024 Sussex election campaign, or even county government for that matter, is beside the point.
It can be difficult to keep track of elections in Sussex County, which has no “county boundaries.” Last year, for example, young farmer Jack DeGroot upset incumbent Herb Yardley.
As mentioned above, the discussion was fairly civil, but there were some signs of disagreement.
Mr Henderson, who is running alongside incumbent Mr Carney, said he wanted to keep Sussex status quo.
You often hear this in campaigns. The point is easy to understand. Sussex is a beautiful place and its beauty should be preserved.
Kovic had another view.
He said he hoped Sussex would do better.
His running mate, Losev, complained about bad roads and poor internet service. Their emails also listed corruption and absenteeism among political workers.
During the debate, Carney said the board was addressing concerns about roads and internet service, suggesting opponents were just looking for trouble.
“Welcome to the party,” he said to Kovich.
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