BY JOHN CAMPBELL

I was encouraged this weekend by an invite that I received from who I thought would be the perfect person to lead the NJ Republican Party during these extraordinarily difficult times, Doug Steinhardt.  To my (and apparently everyone else’s surprise), the decision was made to go in a “different direction” an hour before the meeting.

No disrespect to him, I’m sure he’s qualified, but Mr Steinhardt was the perfect person for the job.

As a African American and former Republican candidate, Doug Steinhardt has done more for me in 3 months than the rest of the party has in nearly 30 years.  How many elections do we have to lose before we wake up and realize that we need to pivot and change the direction we’re headed in?

I go to the fundraisers, laugh at the jokes and hold out hope that a new better day is coming.  When decisions like this are made, I grow more and more doubtful that this will happen.

People ask me time and time again why I’m Republican and I’m finding it increasingly difficult to defend myself.  How can people relate to a party that doesn’t represent them.    As a young African American I can see why this would be a concern.  How can we recruit millennials to run for a party that’s more concerned with protecting safe districts than increasing their footprint in challenging ones?  I don’t know what’s worse, the democrats taking your vote for granted or the republicans not thinking enough of you to even ask for it in the first place.

Governor Kean gave us the playbook “The politics of inclusion” and we’ve failed miserably to keep his legacy going.  When I look into a room of 100 plus people with just two other minorities, I’m reminded of the fact that this is not my party.  We can and must do better.

John Campbell is a resident of Plainfield.