HANOVER – Jay Webber’s political idol is Ronald Reagan, so it was probably no surprise that the GOP candidate in the 11th District punctuated his last campaign rally Monday night with the sunny optimism that helped define the late president.

Webber talked about the United States as a place where everyone has a chance to get ahead and an opportunity to live the life they want. And he described a nation where people care for each other.

“We love our neighbors,” he said to an audience of about 200 in a Route 10 VFW hall.  “We love our fellow Americans.”

It may not have been “morning in America,” or a “shining city on a hill,” but you get the drift.

Webber was also in a reflective mood, noting that he did not plan to run for Congress this year.

“A congressional campaign came looking for us,” he said, referring to Rodney Frelinghuysen bowing out of the race in late January.

He introduced his seven children, jokingly referring to them as the Von Trapp family, although he admitted they can’t sing all that well.

Of course, the evening was not all sweetness and light.

As Webber finished his soliloquy about what’s so right about America and went on to his aims if elected, a man in the back of the room shouted, “build a wall.”

Webber urged supporters  to get him votes by working the phones and talking to their neighbors. If that happens, he will win, he said.

Ron Francioli, the long time mayor of Hanover, said Republicans will show that they don’t need a lot of money to win an election. Democrat Mikie Sherrill has outspent Webber by a huge margin. Francioli referred to Sherrill as “Mikie Montclair,” which reverses the moniker Webber has given her during the campaign.

The Republican ended by poking fun at a Sherrill campaign ad in which the Democrat is pictured flying a helicopter. Sherrill is a former Navy pilot.

“That’s just what we need, another politician looking down at us,” Webber said.