Larry Casha has ended his campaign for Congress in CD-11.

This was not unexpected after Casha lost the Morris County endorsement by 15 votes two weeks ago to Tayfun Selen.

“Thank you to everyone who dedicated their time and money to our effort to improve representation for the 11th congressional district,” he said in a Facebook post. “Debra and I deeply appreciate it.”

Casha is a former councilman in Kinnelon and a county representative on the state Republican committee.

Long an active Republican, a number of Casha’s attempts to win election to the state Legislature and now Congress have been unsuccessful.

Two years ago, he willingly backed out of the CD-11 race in deference to Rosemary Becchi, who lost to Mikie Sherrill by almost 30,000 votes.

This year, his campaign had a nice beginning – a kickoff at a Morristown bar featuring endorsements from many party leaders, including Bill Palatucci, a national GOP committeeman from New Jersey.

Making the rounds at Republican candidates’ nights, Casha stressed his experience, saying he’s seen things in politics younger candidates can only read about. Most relevantly, he talked about rising inflation and high gas prices that he recalled from the 1970’s.

He is, he joked, not a “Larry come-lately.”

This appeal gained some traction; Casha finished second at the Morris convention, earning him a spot in a run-off. But he narrowly lost to Selen, a Morris County commissioner.

Casha is a very likeable fellow; he’s always polite and a gentleman. So, there seems to be genuine regret among many party regulars that things didn’t turn out differently.

The county committee posted a statement calling him a “true class act.” Casha’s campaign page is filled with supportive comments from many thanking him for running.

In the “life goes on” category of things, two of the candidates who lost in the convention say they’re remaining in the primary race.

One is Paul DeGroot, a one-time assistant prosecutor in Passaic County. He has the “line” in Passaic,.

The other is Toby Anderson, an Iraq War veteran.

Anderson complained that the March 4 convention, which was suspended after six hours or so, was tainted. He wanted a new convention to be held, but the county committee denied his request.