The Ocean County Republican steering committee voted to keep The Republicans for Toms River club as the official club for Toms River.
The vote, which was 116-109, is seen as a major defeat for Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, who was looking to bring back the old party, known as the Toms River Regular Republican Club, which was aligned with him.
The Republicans for Toms River group replaced the Toms River Regular Republican Club as the township’s official municipal Republican club at the 2021 nominating convention after then-Ocean County Republican Chairman Frank Holman, who was narrowly elected to replace the recently-resigned George Gilmore, was looking to push aside the Gilmore-influenced group.
Municipal clubs hold a lot of power when it comes to nominating candidates at the party conventions, where the 700 plus member Republican decide who should be party’s candidates on the ballot.
Toms River has 63 election districts, the most of any town in Ocean County, which determines how many votes each town gets at county Republican conventions, and is therefore very powerful within the county.
Because the rules allow for a “weighted vote” system so there can be proportional representation, each municipal club president gets one vote for themselves and one vote for every five election districts in their municipality.
And because municipal clubs hold so much power, Gilmore was looking to replace the Toms River club with a group that will be more aligned with him.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
It is a disgrace that George Gilmore the Convicted Criminal is even permitted back as County Chair. This man is a disgusting Criminal that lied cheated and stole from the residents of Ocean County.