The thirteen municipal chairs from the Union County portion of the seventh congressional district were scheduled to meet on Thursday, but that meeting has been cancelled, sources say.
Colleen Mahr, the acting county chair who faces her own special election next week, has reportedly been anxious to award the Union County organization line this week. Mahr is trying to move the meeting to Sunday, but even that is up in the air amidst varying interpretations of party by-laws.
The Union line is a big deal for congressional candidate Linda Weber, a Berkeley Heights resident who has the tacit support of Mahr. Mahr’s opponent, State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden) has so far stayed out of the race to pick a Democratic nominee to challenge Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton).
Weber already has the organization lines in Somerset and Essex counties, while Tom Malinowski, a former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State who moved back to New Jersey last year to challenge Lance, has won lines in Hunterdon and Warren counties. Weber can’t afford to lose Union.
Some insiders say there is a faction of the Union County Democratic party that wants to wait until after next week’s county chairman election before picking a candidate to run against Lance.