The state GOP is more interested in helping their desired Republican gubernatorial candidate, who has been designated as a” Not Trumper,” win in 2025 than helping the soon-to-be GOP presidential nomination take control of the White House in November, according to a conservative activist who is trying to launch a ballot harvesting program in New Jersey.  ,
Some fervently optimistic Democrats claim that Deep Blue New Jersey has a chance to turn dark in the upcoming election time. However, a local GOP chair claims that a state party that is “drowning in disunity” may prevent defeat from being won.
No Their Priority, perhaps?
As The Federalist first reported in March, New Jersey conservative image Dominick” Mick” Spadea and his political action committee, Fix Jersey Today, have proposed a , targeted — and constitutional — , vote set plan backed by “research, analysis, strategies and coordination for identifying voters”. The initiative, according to documents obtained by The Federalist,  , would use “proprietary analysis” to reach out to” those who do not vote, then develop a targeted message that will engage and speak to those specific register]ed ] but non-voting residents” . ,
The conservative party has been attempting for decades to entice the New Jersey Republican Party and the Republican National Committee to support Democrats in a ballot-gathering contest they have been winning for decades.  ,
However, Spadea asserts that state party leaders are n’t particularly interested in assisting Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, defeat former president Donald Trump. They’ve got their thoughts fixed on next year’s presidential reward, Spadea told me. The grassroots-establishment war was reported earlier this week by the Gateway Pundit.  ,
Spadea and Fix Jersey Here’s numbers man, Fred Bartlett Jr., on June 24 met with Christina Bobb, Republican National Committee senior counsel for election dignity, and Mike Ambrosini, chairman of the RNC’s State Party Strategies, to explain the ballot harvesting program. The social organization’s officials were pitching for money from the RNC.  ,
” Mike Ambrosini stated that the NJ GOP is focused on getting Jack Ciattarelli, elected Governor”, says Fix Jersey Here’s After-Action Report prepared by Fix Jersey Today and obtained by The Federalist. ” The 2024 Presidential Election, a Trump success and a GOP succeed in New Jersey is not their goal or focus”.
The conversation did n’t quite go as Spadea had planned, according to an RNC official who spoke to The Federalist. Ambrosini, the national said, told Spadea that the Jersey GOP’s resources may be spread fairly slender as it prepares for next year’s presidential clash. The group is requesting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the liberal advocate for the ballot-harvesting program.
State group leaders did not return The Federalist’s requests for comment.  ,
Internal Politics
Ciattarelli, a former member of the Jersey General Assembly, is among a crowded field of Democrats running for governor in next month’s election, including express Sen. Jon Bramnick, real estate broker Robert Canfield, and Bill Spadea. The latter is a well-known conservative talk show host, and he also happens to be Mick Spadea’s child. As you might expect, a GOP formation that the younger Spadea has frequently criticized on New Jersey’s radio is not lost on the fact. Two of his main opponents have complained that his week radio show on New Jersey 101.5 is basically a huge — and “impermissible” — “in-kind contribution to his campaign”, the New Jersey Monitor reported.
Mick Spadea asserts party officials backing Ciattarelli, who has twice unsuccessfully run for governor, are locking out funding for his plan to harvest ballots from Republicans, Independents, and — particularly — disaffected voters who have had enough of Biden and the Democrats. He asserts that Fix Jersey Now’s desire to elect Republicans is not related to his son’s gubernatorial run. The organization requested at least$ 300, 000 to pay ground troops to collect ballots in a dozen Jersey counties or$ 525, 000 to reach all 21 counties, according to the After-Action Report. Garden State law limits the number of voters a harvester may deliver mail-in ballots for to three, so it’s a very labor-intensive effort.  ,
Ciattarelli has irked many supporters of former president Donald Trump, who is scheduled to receive his third straight GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Friday. Ciattarelli, who finished less than 3 points behind Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021, once called Trump a” charlatan”. He” softened his rhetoric” during Trump’s tenure in the White House, walking a “tightrope”, as Politico reported, during the 2021 election — “neither too anti-Trump for the primary nor too pro-Trump for the general election in a deeply blue state” . ,
Red Potential ,
However, the state of blue is turning red in the Biden era.  , The Democrat’s general unpopularity, his unpopular policies, as well as his age and clear cognitive decline have made liberal citadels a lot more competitive than they have been in the past.  ,
New York State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox recently stated to the New York Post,” Trump can win New York just like Ronald Reagan did in 1980.”  ,
In a Siena College poll conducted last month, the former president surpassed Biden in voter turn turnout ( 47 percent to 39 percent ) in the Empire State, which has essentially been a one-party state for the better part of the last 20 years.  , The survey was taken about two weeks before the June 27 debate.
A recent poll of likely Garden State voters, conducted by market research firm Co/Efficient found Trump edging ahead of Biden, 41 percent to 40 percent. Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. garnered 7 percent support in the poll of 810 respondents conducted June 26-27 — the day before and the day of Biden’s disastrous debate performance.  ,
In the poll’s generic matchup, Republicans trail Democrats by just 3 percentage points.  ,
Biden’s troubles combined with Trump’s ascent is boding well for Republicans ‘ chances to take a U. S. Senate seat in November, something the New Jersey GOP has n’t done in more than a half-century. Hotelier Curtis Bashaw, who beat the Trump-endorsed candidate in last month’s GOP primary, is trailing Democrat Rep. Andrew Kim by just 2 percentage points ( 35 percent to 33 percent ) in the increasingly competitive Senate race, according to a GOP super PAC poll reported on by the New Jersey Globe.  , Incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez, who is running an independent campaign while being tried on federal corruption charges, is polling at 6 percent.  ,
” Various Warlords”
” We could have a U. S. senator in 2024 if we do n’t screw things up with our infighting”, said Joe Labarbera, chairman of the Sussex County Republican Party and a big fan of Fix Jersey Now’s ballot-gathering initiative.
I served in Afghanistan on three combat tours and Iraq on two. I saw the exact same thing over there; various warlords fighting for dominance. We do n’t have a unified message right now”, Labarbera told me in an interview.  ,
The local chairman claimed that the Jersey GOP’s problem is that the party chairs are chosen by the leading GOP candidates. Typically, the candidate who chose them determines their loyalty. At the moment, the power is spread out in the main among the major Republican gubernatorial candidates, at war with each other more than a year before the 2025 election.  ,
Labarbera claimed that Jose Arango, the New Jersey Republican Chairs Association chairman, has urged unity in the state party and for the Jersey GOP to keep an eye on the important issue of 2024: control of the White House and Congress. Trump would benefit from New Jersey’s 14 priceless electoral votes, and success in the state’s down-ballot races would help with the latter.
However, none of the combatants appear to be friendly.  ,
Labarbera said he’s not seeing much in the way of support from the RNC so far, but he acknowledges he’s in his own “myopic battles” . ,
Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, has pushed for the GOP to use the same tools Democrats have to their advantage — early voting and “legal” ballot harvesting.  ,
Mick Spadea told me,” We need to start putting some points on the board right away, not wait until Election Day.”  ,
Matt Kittle covers The Federalist’s senior elections coverage. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
