Henry Kuhl

Henry Kuhl and parlimentarian Tony Maglio 

FLEMINGTON - The veterans picked the veteran here tonight and the county committee responded in kind as Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl won re-election over Bloomsbury Mayor Mark Peck.

The Hunterdon GOP faithful are proud and excited to have two residents on the general election ballot in important races: Dick Zimmer running for U.S. Senate and Leonard Lance for U.S. Congress in the 7th District.

Both candidates backed 28-year chair Kuhl for another term.

7th Congressional District GOP nominee Leonard Lance 

FLEMINGTON - State Sen. Leonard Lance, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 7th District, just thanked the overflow crowd here in GOP headquarters.

"I'm grateful to everyone in this room," said Lance, who last week romped to victory in the GOP primary.

The candidate, who made his remarks moments before heading out the door to attend reorganization meetings in Somerset and Union counties, endorsed chair Henry Kuhl for another term over challenger Mayor Mark Peck of Bloomsbury.

Senate candidate Joe Pennacchio hung on to the Hunterdon County Republicans' line tonight.

Pennacchio kept the prominent ballot spot, winning 34 votes to Zimmer’s 30 at a special county committee meeting.

It was the second time that Pennacchio won a county committee vote in Hunterdon County. In late February, he beat Anne Estabrook and Murray Sabrin to win the coveted ballot spot.

But after Hunterdon native Dick Zimmer entered the race last week, the county’s Republican chairman, Henry Kuhl, scheduled a special county committee meeting to vote on whether to change the county’s ballot placement.

The potential entrance of former Rep. Dick Zimmer into the U.S. Senate race could put at least one of state Sen. Joe Pennacchio’s county lines in jeopardy.

Pennacchio won the Hunterdon County Republican Convention in February, earning preferential ballot placement in a county that produces a lot of primary votes. But Zimmer owns a farm in the county, where he lived when he represented the 12th district in Congress during the 1990s.

If Zimmer does get into the race, Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl plans to call a county committee meeting for April 16th to vote on whether or not to change the county committee’s endorsement. If Zimmer wins that, he’ll get the coveted county line.

U.S. Senate candidate Anne Estabrook now has the backing of six GOP County ChairmenTwo more Republican County Chairmen have joined Anne Evans Estabrook's U.S. Senate Exploratory Committee, along with three state legislators and a former GOP State Chairman. Hunterdon County GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl and Salem County GOP Chairman Paul Reed join GOP county leaders from Monmouth, Union, Camden and Gloucester counties as likely Estabrook for Senate supporters.

Assemblymen Peter Biondi and Sean Kean, Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, and former GOP State Chairman Virginia Littell are also backing Estabrook. They join State Senators Joe Kyrillos and Diane Allen, and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.