President-elect Donald Trump won Monmouth County by over 43,000 votes with the vast majority of

election districts supporting him and Vice President-elect Vance. Senate Candidate Curtis Bashaw won Monmouth by over 35,500 votes, Congressman Chris Smith trounced his opponent, and County Commissioner Sue Kiley cruised to re-election by over 55,000 votes. Dr. Rajesh Mohan also saw victory in Monmouth County’s portion of Congressional District 3. Monmouth County delivered the second highest percentage of votes to Trump at 55.4%.

“Our success in Monmouth County is due to our strategic investments by the County Republican organization in both digital and grassroots strategies to register and reach voters across our county,” said Monmouth County GOP Chairman Shaun Golden. “Our leadership team, candidates and volunteers are the backbone of our organization and spend countless hours to ensure we are victorious up and down the ballot.”

Monmouth County establishment Republicans also campaigned for Trump in battleground Pennsylvania.

“We swamped the vote [in Monmouth] for President Trump and the Republican ticket,” said the GOp chair.

As the state heads toward a gubernatorial election next year, and an intensified rivalry between Jack Ciattarelli and radio personality Bill Spadea for the Republican nomination, the latter claimed a handful of critical victories in a critical county on the GOP statewide map where Republicans outnumber Democrats by 20,000.

COLTS NECK

Monmouth County Republicans and Colts Neck Republican Chairman John Cantalupo went all in for ATU candidates Brenna Dillon, Amy Dimes, Vanessa Dawson, and Tracy Kramer. Spadea-backed candidates Rob Scales, Brian Scarpa, Sara Horowitz, and Phyllis Camera of the Colts Kids First Team beat them. Golden had endorsed the ATU team in the closing days. Colts Neck Mayor Frank Rizutto and the Township Committee also backed the ATU candidates. The Spadea slate carried all eight voting districts against the Golden slate. Spadea’s allies now have a majority on the Colts Neck Board of Education.

Colts Neck BOE Member Angelique Volpe, widely expected to be the incoming BOE president, has choice words for the Monmouth GOP.

HOWELL

Widely derided by the establishment, Republican Mayor-Elect John Leggio won. He had spent most of the campaign feuding with local GOP Chairman Joe DiBella and GOP Vice-Chair Rob Nicastro. Howell is the second biggest town in Monmouth County and the hometown of Golden. Spadea campaigned hard for Leggio in the closing days. Leggio is expected to endorse Spadea’s campaign for Governor and be a statewide Co-Chair after he is sworn in.

ELSEWHERE

Spadea backed candidates also won in Rumson, Fair Haven, Keyport and other towns. In Keyport, Republican Chairman John Merla, a strong adversary of Golden, was successful in getting his brother, JoJo Merla to the Council. Spadea campaigned for Merla in the closing days. Marlboro Republican Chairman Renzo Kolenovic, another Golden adversary, is credited with the campaign in Keyport. In Marlboro, Renzo’s backed BOE candidate was top vote getter. In Holmdel, longtime Golden foes, former Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso and Former Mayor Greg Buontempo were successful in defeating Holmdel BOE candidates led by Golden ally Terrence Wall. To add insult to injury, Republicans lost the majority in Arnone’s hometown of Neptune City as well.