Frank Pallotta is convinced he’s the guy to return CD-5 to the Republican fold.

“I think I walked away from last year’s race with a good understanding,” of what running for the House is all about, Pallotta said of a campaign he lost by about 32,000 votes to Josh Gottheimer.

Losing candidates often run again, sometimes with better results.

But if Pallotta, who lives in Mahwah, was hoping for a smooth passageway to the GOP nod, it’s not happening.

Enter Nick DeGregorio, a Fair Lawn resident who spent nine years in the Marines. DeGregorio worked on Pallotta’s campaign last year, but now is running against him.

Talking over breakfast Tuesday morning at a luncheonette in Fair Lawn, DeGregorio said he hopes for a friendly competition.

“I’m going to stay professional,” he said. “I’m going to focus on Josh Gottheimer who’s really the opponent.”

That could be the case in six months-plus.

But what’s immediately on tap is a spirited primary in a district that ranges from the Hudson to the Delaware and along the way, covers at least parts of four counties – Bergen, Passaic, Sussex and Warren. Also in the race is Nicholas D’Agostino, the president of the Sussex-Wantage Regional Board of Education.

Things can change, but at the moment this seems to be a contest between DeGregorio and Pallotta, both of whom come from Bergen, by far the largest county in the district.

Pallotta in a conversation last week expressed confidence he will get the nomination, noting that there were nine candidates in 2020 and that he came out on top. He says he learned a lot in 2020 about the mechanics of running in a large and very diverse district. After all, there aren’t many similarities between Ridgewood and Oxford in Warren County.

He’s convinced that he represents what voters want in a congressional candidate. Pallotta grew up modestly in Queens, became a successful businessman on Wall Street and now spends time supporting many charitable endeavors.

Redistricting, which is ongoing, may change the map a bit, but Pallotta says, “With the right team, we’re prepared for everything.”

DeGregorio attributes his entry into politics to a life-changing event – 9/11. He was 16 at the time and said he decided – right then and there – to join the military when he became of age.

His nine-year stint, including combat tours in Afghanistan, followed.

More recently, he said his congressional candidacy was prompted by the Biden Administration’s atrocious exit from Afghanistan last summer.

He called the departure “extremely painful to watch,” adding that it resulted in our allies losing respect for the U.S. and our enemies laughing at us.

It’s doubtful if any Republicans would disagree with that assessment, but there is long-standing political reality here. Rightly or wrongly, foreign policy is seldom a riveting issue for many voters.

While nuances among the primary candidates will undoubtedly surface in time, a broadside attack on DeGregorio already has popped up. It came via a missive distributed last month by Kelly Ann Hart, the executive director of the Sussex County Republican Committee. Hart’s name appears on Pallotta’s FEC report as having received $2,500 in August of 2021 from his campaign.

Hart, who said in an email that she was speaking for herself, criticized both DeGregorio and his advisors, labeling them as RINOs, a dreaded insult to be sure.

The outside political universe may look at the Nov. 2 election as a success for Republicans given the closeness of the gubernatorial race and GOP gains in the Legislature.

Not Hart.

She said Republicans should have won both Virginia and New Jersey and not just a handful of seats. For that failing, she blames the “insider consultants,” who dominate the New Jersey GOP.

“Nick DeGregorio is the latest offering by that team,” Hart writes.

“Already, DeGregorio’s handlers are using the same cookie-cutter language employed in their failed (Bob) Hugin for Senate campaign. In common with the Hugin race, instead of policies the campaign is leaning heavily on the candidate’s biography.” For the record, Hugin lost to Bob Menendez in 2018.

This certainly seems like a harsh observation to make months before the primary campaign really begins.

Asked about it, DeGregorio shrugged and said, “It really doesn’t change my strategy at all.”

And that strategy is to focus on Gottheimer.

On that, not surprisingly, there was agreement between Pallotta and DeGregorio.

Gottheimer was profiled recently on CNN as a man “in the middle.” The point being that as a “centrist,” the incumbent Democrat gets heat from both sides. This is a legitimate observation. GOP condemnation is to be expected. However, the left wing of the Democratic party has been quite vocal, if not obnoxious, in attacking Gottheimer as well. Most recently, there were protests outside his district office and a small group even showed up in the driveway of his home.

Talk about uncomfortable “friendly fire.”

Of course, neither Pallotta nor DeGregorio buy the line about Gottheimer being a centrist.

“Josh has never been a centrist,” Pallotta says. “You are what the back of your baseball card says you are.”

As Republicans are wont to do, Pallotta asks how can Gottheimer really be a moderate if he votes often with Speaker Nancy Pelosi?

DeGregorio frames things this way:

He said the incumbent focuses more on “preserving his career than he does protecting the interests of his constituencies.”

The most significant bill to pass the Democratic Congress this year probably was the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

The Republican candidates agreed that fixing roads and bridges is a basic government responsibility, but they both have problems with the legislation.

Pallotta says only a small part of the appropriation actually goes to infrastructure; DeGregorio said he sees a lot of “pork” in the bill.

This sounds like standard Republican criticism, but it must be pointed out that the two GOP House members from New Jersey, Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew, voted yes on the bill.

In general, there is an air of optimism here.

Pallotta says he ran into “headwinds” last year, but that 2022 looks different. He said Democrats have moved too far left and that he hopes to take advantage of the pendulum swinging back the other way.

DeGregorio points out that Jack Ciattarelli carried the district by 6 points on Nov. 2.

Those tidbits have CD-5 Republicans smiling, but the question is, which candidate will be grinning after next June’s primary?