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Welle Wins Ocean Dems’ endorsement to challenge Congressman Chris Smith

As expected, the Ocean County Democrats endorsed Joshua Welle over former Asbury Park Councilman Jim Keady for the nomination to challenge Congressman Chris Smith in the 4th Congressional District, at their Mini-Convention in Bayville this afternooon.  InsiderNJ reports that Welle was the choice of 46 mini-delegates to Keady’s 16.

Welle will have the ‘party line’ on the June 5 primary ballot in both Ocean and Monmouth Counties.  That means his name will be bracketed in the same ballot column as U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, each county’s freeholder candidates and the party endorsed municipal candidates.  The Mercer County Dems have not yet awarded their endorsement. Hamilton and Robbinsville are the only Mercer County communities that are in CD-4.

Pat Politano, spokesman for Welle, called for Keady to drop out of the race, according to InsiderNJ.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm of Mr. Keady and his supporters,” Politano told InsiderNJ, “but it’s close to the time they consider the common goal of beating Chris Smith.”

Yesterday, Keady told MMM that he was committed to staying in the race through the primary.  He hasn’t returned our calls today, but his spokesman echoed that message with InsiderNJ following the results in Bayville.

“Definitely,” Keady spokesman Ryan Hughes told InsiderNJ when asked if the candidate plans to stay in the contest. “Jim’s grassroots support in the 4th District is unprecedented for any Democrat in this district – or Republican, for that matter. Although we came up short in Ocean, we are looking forward to bringing this primary campaign to the doorsteps of every voter in the fighting 4th.”

Welle twice texted “Filed” to MMM today. Presumably that means that he filed his Financial Disclosure Form with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.  Yesterday we reported that he is over four months delinquent in that filing, a violation of the Ethics in Government Act.

Welle’s Financial Disclosure Report has not yet been posted on the Clerk of the House of Representatives’ website.  He has not responded to our request that the send it to MMM directly.

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Posted: March 11th, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: 2018 Elections, Chris Smith, Monmouth County News, New Jersey, Ocean County | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

4 Comments on “Welle Wins Ocean Dems’ endorsement to challenge Congressman Chris Smith”

  1. Ho said at 12:27 pm on March 12th, 2018:

    hum..too bad the district doesn’t have more GOP towns. If we lose to this guy, it will be a bad blowout, everywhere…Now, we return to our regularly- scheduled Monmouth, which is on thinner ice, this year….

  2. Reality Check said at 3:29 pm on March 12th, 2018:

    Posts like the previous one crack me up. First of all, it’s almost incoherent. Second of all, does he really think this guy is a serious threat? Lastly, we have one of the worst governors in our history and an equally disastrous Democrat legislature. By November, being a Democrat Will be akin to having leprosy.

  3. Whoa. said at 8:43 pm on March 12th, 2018:

    What is “incoherent” about being more worried about the changing demographics in Monmouth County, than in the electorally- safer Ocean?? After the Christie disaster we suffered last year, one is naive to think we can bounce back that quickly, this year. In case you haven’t been paying attention, NJ is voting more blue each year, and once they get in, it takes a long time, and a much stronger, well-funded party structure, which right now is lower than in the past 30 years, to comeback from that!

  4. Ps: said at 8:54 pm on March 12th, 2018:

    that was simply a touch of mild HUMOR, for heaven’s sake: “return to our regularly-scheduled program??” Never mind, methinks you sound like the Rinos and media who take everything, especially themselves, too seriously.