Vince Polistina Poised To Run For Atlantic County Republican Party Chairman

The Atlantic County Republican Party may be on the brink of some very big news.

UPDATE: Harry Hurley's interviews with Vince Polistina and Keith Davis are now available on demand.

We've been patiently investigating this for a number of weeks now. Today we can report the following: unless something changes (and, don't expect it to), in the next few weeks, former New Jersey Assemblyman Vince Polistina is going to seek the position of Chairman of the Atlantic County Republican Party.

Reliable inside sources have confirmed to me that Polistina has already received the backing of Senator Sonny McCullough, the Mayor of Egg Harbor Township, and, with it the backing of the largest bloc of votes required to win the position.

Additional strong pockets of other political support are quietly lining up behind Polistina at the present time, and are simply waiting for the right time to launch.

It is important to note that all of this should not be misconstrued as a negative attack against current Atlantic County Republican Party Chairman Keith Davis, who has earned respect and much good will over the years.

Assemblyman Polistina will be appearing today on-air with "Hurley in the Morning" at 8:05 this morning.

Although I interviewed him off-air last week about this, I am still unaware of exactly what Polistina will say on-air about this delicate matter.

During my discussion with Polistina, he was non committal and highly respectful of Chairman Keith Davis. You can tell that Polistina would definitely like Davis to have a position of respect within the Party, if he (Polistina) becomes Party Chairman.

If all of this can be amicably worked out, it would lead to the best of all worlds. Polistina brings certain skill sets that would be very important and welcome; i.e., fundraising ability, contacts, overall professionalism, and a willingness to hit the other side hard when necessary. Davis brings a wealth of experience; organization, polish and experience.

It would be a perfect blend of talents, should this work out. However, that's easier said then done.

At one point, several well placed insiders confirmed to me that Davis was willing to step down and ensure a smooth transition. This would have basically left Davis in place as a highly regarded Chairman Emeritus. Polistina had just about cleared the field.

That was until a high ranking Republican (elected) leader at the County level met with Davis and began to aggressively attempt to talk him out of it. We're going to leave this leader unnamed at this time.

One thing remains clear, both Polistina and Davis are highly respected and the best ending would be to find common ground, so that there is not a protracted (ugly) and contested battle.

A very painful lesson learned is the most recent example of Will Pauls versus Joe McDevitt Primary contest for an Atlantic County Freeholder at Large seat. This in house battle (alone) most likely cost former Assemblyman John Amodeo his seat in the New Jersey Legislature ... as staunch McDevitt supporters did not vote for Amodeo last year in the General Election, whereby Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo defeated Amodeo by less than 50 votes.

This will all shake-out within the next four weeks. joining us on-air now with his first public comments about this is Assemblyman Vince Polistina.

Listen to Harry Hurley's interview with Vince Polistina from Feb. 24th here: