Monmouth GOP incumbents appear to fend off primary challenges
Monmouth County's Republican incumbents appear to have swatted away their first competitive primary challengers in more than a decade, according to unofficial primary night votes.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden and his running mates, county Commissioners Tom Arnone and Nick DiRocco appear to have won their races by a 2-to-1 margin with 460 of 462 precincts counted.
The tallies at that time were:
Golden, of Howell, who is also the county GOP chairman, had 22,972 votes compared with 11,376 votes for Gary Rich, a former county freeholder — the previous name for county commissioner — from Spring Lake
Arnone, of Neptune City, had 22,864 votes and DiRocco, of Wall, had 22,330 votes compared with 11,469 votes for Englishtown Councilman Daniel Francisco and 11,351 votes for Steven Rich of Spring Lake, who works in insurance and finance.
The "America First" moniker has been used by candidates across the country to signify their alignment with former President Donald Trump.
But Gary Rich, his son Steven Rich and Francisco said they came together as a countywide team because of the "heavy-handed tactics" they've seen from the county party since Golden took over as its chairman in 2014.
They were a part of a three-county team of candidates who aligned with GOP congressional candidates Mike Crispi in District 4 and Rik Mehta in District 6.
By bracketing together, the America First team was able to leverage better ballot positions than if they ran alone. The slate garnered the coveted first column on the ballot.
Look ahead: Monmouth GOP primary voters have a choice: America First or the party of Golden
Yet, the better ballot position and the America First team's concerns about Golden's county party leadership were not enough to overcome the strong support Golden, Arnone and DiRocco had with voters.
Arnone and DiRocco will face Democrats Kristal Dias and Bonnie Kass-Viola, who were unopposed in their party's primary.
Golden's November race for Monmouth County sheriff, however, is more open-ended. Monmouth County Democrats list Larry Luttrell of Holmdel as their write-in candidate for sheriff.
Luttrell, a Democratic stalwart who has run for countywide office numerous times, agreed to throw his name in as the write-in for sheriff after the party's original choice, Manuel Caravela, did not meet the minimum residency requirement to be sheriff.
In a statement issued before Tuesday's primary, Luttrell said whether he runs will depend on the outcome of the GOP primary.
"Right now there are only two candidates for county sheriff: Shaun Golden and Gary Rich. I'm pulling for Rich and the thousands behind him for having the courage to speak truth to power," Luttrell wrote.
"If Rich wins, I would respectfully pass on a run for Sheriff. Otherwise, I intend to finish off the mission they started because no single person should hold the power to decide what candidates voters get to choose from."
With 460 of 462 precincts, there were 1,276 write in votes cast in the Democratic sheriff race. It was not clear how many went to Luttrell.
Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Press at APP.com/subscribe.
Susanne Cervenka covers Monmouth County government and property tax issues, winning several state and regional awards for her work. She's covered local government for 18 years, with stops in Ohio and Florida before arriving in New Jersey in 2013. Contact her at @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth County NJ election results: GOP incumbents win primary
