On the job for a week now as Republican State Committee Chairman, Mike Lavery said he is intent on uniting Republicans in common cause, and to that end continues to travel the state to connect face to face with his colleagues.

Sussex County tomorrow night.

Cape May next week.

“Coming out of the primary people are going to say these types of things,” the attorney and former Hackettstown mayor said of some of the negative energy directed at GOP gubernatorial nominee Kim Guadagno. “My job is to bring people together and to help all Republicans. Time heals all wounds. I think we have to go out and call all the county committee chairs, and visit them around the state. We want to help anyway we can.

“It doesn’t matter how I define myself,” he added. “A good Republican is a good Republican. My job is to get GOP candidates elected.”

Lavery suddenly became chairman after Warren County GOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt bowed out of the running on orders by Guadagno. The gubernatorial candidate expressed concern about Governor Chris Christie earlier that same day appointing Trudy Steinhardt, the chairman’s wife, to the state parole board, and the potential for people to draw the wrong conclusions about Steinhardt. So Lavery stepped in, triggering puzzled reactions around the state and then cynical head shakes of disbelief when people learned he was the nephew of powerful Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore, a close ally of Guadagno’s.

But Lavery is also very close to Steinhardt, one of his best friends, in fact, who was slated to become Steinhardt’s counsel at the state GOP. The two men had traveled to the state convention  together. If the party is divided regionally and otherwise, with the wounds of the primary still stinging and Christie in some senses overshadowing the nominee, Lavery with friends in both main camps presents as a true consensus choice for a reeling Republican Party.

Christie’s at 15% job approval.

Guadagno trails Democratic nominee Phil Murphy 55-26%.

The governor yesterday said he doesn’t know Lavery well enough to make a comment about him.

It’s bleak, and Guadagno’s smack in the middle of it as the party nominee to succeed the staggering Christie.

“I think she’s an excellent candidate,” Lavery said of Guadagno. “She is the standard bearer for the party and we have to rally around her.”

Joined at the hip, Lavery and Steinhardt together made the rounds in D.C. yesterday, traveling to the U.S. Capitol with Sussex County GOP Chair Jerry Scanlan and Warren County Freeholder Jason Sarnoski, a 2018 Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5).

An executive director for the NJGOP will surface in the coming days as Lavery – with Steinhardt in a friendly supporting role – tries to make the GOP relevenat, particulalry in light of down ballot candidates this year.

InsiderNJ asked the new chairman his opinion about President Donald J. Trump.

“People can criticize all they want, but he is following through on promises he made on  the campaign trail,” Lavery  said.