AREA — Glenn Mortimer, the longtime chair of the Union County Republican Committee, was unseated Monday night after a contentious election season that left the local GOP splintered over political endorsements and intra-party disagreements.
Mr. Mortimer, who has held his position of chair since 2014, was defeated by challenger Carlos Santos, a former iron worker who made a run for Union County Commissioner last year, by a vote of 242-145.
“Thank you to the Union County Republicans from every town in the county who came out tonight and voted; your trust means the world to me! I can’t wait to continue to build our party, win victories, and support all 21 towns!” Mr. Santos, who has publicly endorsed Donald Trump’s bid for re-election, said via social media on Tuesday.
Disagreements erupted within the Committee earlier this year when Joseph Sarno, the chair of the Scotch Plains America First Republicans, announced that he would be supporting Mr. Santos instead of Mr. Mortimer during this year’s election. Mr. Mortimer, meanwhile, refused to grant the party’s support to 12America First candidates — all of whom also are from Scotch Plains — in their respective races to join the Committee.
Then, in June, the America First candidates realized that they had been placed below their county-supported challengers on the Primary ballot despite a recent U.S. District Court decision that effectively barred political bosses from giving their chosen candidates top billing. Judge Zahid Quraishi, however, later clarified that his ruling, which came about as the result of a lawsuit filed by U.S. Senate hopeful Andy Kim, could only be specifically applied to the Democratic Primary.
As was previously reported in Union County HAWK, Mr. Sarno voiced his dissatisfaction with the ballot positioning in a county-wide email that accused Mr. Mortimer of acting “deceitfully.” He further said that Mr. Mortimer had committed “an egregious breach of trust” by filing ballot names and petitions with the township clerk that differed from forms that Mr. Mortimer had provided to Mr. Sarno. This, Mr. Sarno said, “broke [Mr. Mortimer’s] reputation for fairness.”
Mr. Mortimer, meanwhile, wrote in his own email communication to the Committee that he had received “numerous complaints from long serving members of the Scotch Plains Republican Committee, all of which focused on Chairman Sarno’s behavior with respect to management of campaign funds and lack of support for his favored candidates.” He accused Mr. Sarno of misdirecting campaign funds without the approval of the municipal committee and also said that Mr. Sarno had not supported the Republican candidate in a special election to fill a township council vacancy in 2021.
Mr. Mortimer had the support of Rep. Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), Assemblywomen Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence) and Nancy Muñoz (R-Summit), and eight GOP municipal chairs heading into Monday night’s proceedings. Mr. Santos, meanwhile, garnered support from numerous local leaders in Plainfield, Winfield Park, Roselle Park, Elizabeth, Union, Linden, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Garwood, Roselle, Hillside and Clark.
The GOP has not won a seat on the County Commissioner board since 1995.
