Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi announced her win on social media Tuesday night a triumphant, “We did it!”  So ends, for now, her battle with Assemblyman Robert Auth who had contentiously battled on and off with Schepisi and the Bergen County Republican Organization to succeed his mentor, the late, long-serving Senator Gerald Cardinale.

A joint county committee convention selected Schepisi narrowly over Auth, where it now remains to be seen whether or not Auth will continue his crusade for Cardinale’s old post, or if Schepisi will march towards Election Day without a primary.

Either way, the Republican contest for LD39 has been a strange war and the convention just one of several battles in a campaign marred by allegations of miscommunication, intra-party feuding, and the desire to define the predominantly Bergen County GOP future path.

“I’m deeply humbled to earn the support of the Republican county committee members from Bergen and Passaic Counties,” Schepisi said in a statement.  “For nearly a decade, I have represented the 39th Legislative District in the state Assembly, standing up for our Republican values, fighting for our communities, and working to grow our party.”

Decrying Governor Phil Murphy as having laid out a “radical, left-wing agenda” Schepisi said she would push to re-open schools and businesses.

Schepisi will fill the balance of Senator Cardinale’s term while also preparing to retain that seat in the following election.