Monmouth County GOP Pulls Support For DiMaso In NJ-13 Race

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Things have taken a dramatic turn in Monmouth County Republican politics:

After the head of the county Republican Party, Sheriff Shaun Golden, pulled his support for Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso — and she failed to gain enough votes at Thursday's convention — DiMaso exclusively told Patch Friday she is "thinking about" running in the primary.

The three 13th legislative district state representative seats are up for election this November, currently filled by state Senator Declan O'Scanlon and Assembly reps DiMaso and Gerry Scharfenberger, all Republican.

Except this March, the boss of the county Republican Party, Golden suddenly — and according to DiMaso without warning — pulled his support for DiMaso, declared her "unelectable" and announced he would be backing Scharfenberger and Vicky Flynn, Holmdel Board of Education president, for DiMaso's Assembly seat. (Flynn ran for Holmdel Twp. Committee last year and lost.)

DiMaso, never one to back down from a challenge, decided she would try and seek the Republican Party nomination anyway, but she failed at the party convention Thursday, according to Tap Into Holmdel. In fact, DiMaso did not receive any votes from her fellow Holmdel Township Republicans (she lives in Holmdel), except for her vote for herself. The unofficial results from Tap Into from Thursday's convention: Scharfenberger - 213, Flynn - 142, DiMaso - 89.

DiMaso has hired a lawyer to look into possibly challenging the results of the convention, New Jersey Globe reported.

Golden and DiMaso have sparred and butted heads for years. Monmouth County Republican insiders say she bucked Golden's wishes on a number of various issues through the years.

"The relationship just reached a breaking point," said one.

"Serena has not, although given four years to do so, supported our Republican values and candidates, and is not electable in a General Election," wrote Golden in this scathing public letter about DiMaso this week.

"Even I didn't know it was this bad," DiMaso told Patch. "(Shaun) has never called me to tell me he wasn’t supporting me or he was pulling the line. He has refused to meet with me even though I have asked and many others have asked. All of this could have been avoided."

DiMaso served as the mayor of Holmdel, was a Monmouth freeholder and she is also a long-serving Holmdel EMT. She also has the backing of former Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, who lives nearby in Monmouth Beach.

Will DiMaso still run "off the line" in the June primary, without the backing of the powerful county party? And if she does, does she have enough popularity to knock off Flynn or Scharfenberger as the GOP nominee? That remains to be seen.

A Politico reporter tweeted Thursday night that she still intends to run, quoting her as saying: "I will turn my attention to June, where every Republican vote and voter will have a chance to voice their opinion on my record and the record of my opponents."

However, DiMaso's statement Friday on her personal Facebook page was much more subdued.

"Thank you to everyone for your wonderful support and your kind words, my heart is full. While last night’s county convention didn’t turn out the way we had hoped, I am truly blessed with friends and family like yourselves. Make no mistake I will continue to fight, for you, for our children and for what’s right. I represent you. This seat belongs to you and for as long as I am in it, your voice will always be heard."

All she told Patch late Friday afternoon was that she was "thinking about" running in the primary.

The 13th legislative district includes Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Fair Haven, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Little Silver, Marlboro, Middletown, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Sea Bright, Rumson and Union Beach.

Erin Howard and Allison Friedman are the Democrats running for the LD 13 two Assembly seats this year. Democrat Vincent "Vinny" Solomeno will challenge O'Scanlon for the area's state Senate seat.

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