TOMS RIVER, NJ—The Ocean County GOP has officially endorsed Curtis Bashaw for the U.S. Senate and will ask voters to cast their ballots for the locally endorsed candidate over the next week.
President Donald J. Trump. Column D candidate Christine Serrano-Glassner has been endorsed at the top of the Republican ticket. While neither Bashaw nor Glassner stand a chance against progressive Democrat Andy Kim in blue-state New Jersey this November, it is, however, a test of the power of the party line in Ocean County.
It could also be the last party-line primary in Ocean County, as lawsuits against the party line for Republicans are sure to be settled similarly to the abolishment of the Democratic party line this year.
The contest now pits President Donald J. Trump against Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore, who was incidentally pardoned by Trump in the former president’s final hours.
Trump endorsed Serrano, but it didn’t phase Bashaw, who played it off as something Trump had to do because his opponent’s husband works for Trump.
“You know, Christine’s husband has worked for Donald Trump for 11 years,” Bashaw said in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “The president opted to endorse his long-term employee’s wife. I understand and respect loyalty. I’m loyal to my employees. It doesn’t change my view that Donald Trump needs to win this fall.”
Serrano says Bashaw doomed himself by being anti-Trump and by donating money to anti-Trump candidates in past years.
Serrano has been robo-texting Republicans. So has the county.
The county doubled down on their non-endorsed Trump candidate Bashaw, saying “We will stand behind Trump and Bashaw NO MATTER WHAT.”
Serrano supporters claim the Ocean County primary is rigged against her and Trump and had called on Gilmore to change the party’s endorsement to the Trump-endorsed candidate. Gilmore did not.