News
Halfacre Suspends Congressional Campaign
By John Burton
FAIR HAVEN - Fair Haven Mayor Michael Halfacre this week bowed out of his bid to be the Republican nominee for the 12th Congressional District.
At a meeting on Monday that was closed to the press, Halfacre failed to win the support of the Monmouth County Republican organization when the organization's selection committee voted to endorse opponent Scott Sipprelle, giving Sipprelle the Republican Party line on the June 8 primary ballot.
The Middlesex party organization, in an open convention, also voted to support Sipprelle.
On Tuesday, Halfacre issued a press release saying that, "in light of the results of the last several weeks," he would be suspending his campaign and would no longer seek the nomination for the primary to be the candidate for the Nov. 3 general election.
"This is a difficult decision, mostly because of the responsibility I feel toward the many, many people who have supported me over the last year," his statement read. "I would like to publicly thank all of those people for their passion, determination, loyalty and selflessness."
Halfacre went on to extend his support to Sipprelle and, "wished him luck, and offered my help in any way possible to achieve our mutual goal," that of defeating incumbent Democrat Rush Holt, whom Halfacre called, "America's most liberal Congressman."
Halfacre, 43, a lawyer, has been Fair Haven's mayor since Jan. 2007. Last July he announced his intention to seek the party's nod to challenge Holt, Hopewell Township, who has held the congressional seat for six two-year terms.
The 12th District is made up of 44 municipalities in Monmouth, Middlesex, Mercer, Somerset and Hunterton counties.
Siprelle had received the support of four of those five counties, including Halfacre's home county, forcing him to reconsider his campaign's future, he acknowledged on Wednesday.
"It was clear Scott had the party organizations' support," he said, acknowledging, "It's very difficult to be successful in the primary without the party line."
"I think I had tremendous amount of support among grassroots voters." But without party establishment backing and the cost of continuing, made that hill that much higher, he explained. "Running against the party line is tough and expensive."
Since announcing his candidacy, his campaign had raised and spent approximately $100,000, he said.
"I believe that in a primary you give it your best effort and you shake hands like gentlemen at the end, win or lose," Halfacre's release stated, then asking his supporters to step up for Siprelle.
In his statement, Siprelle praised Halfacre saying he became, "a better candidate for having faced him in this primary."
"I mentioned to Mike, that in my business career, some of fiercest competitors had often turned into friends and partners," Siprelle said. "I suspect the same will happen here."
It hasn't always been so cordial as the two men squared off via press releases since Siprelle announced his candidate in January. The two waged a kind of tacit war as to who was the "real" Republican in the race. Halfacre's camp criticized Siprelle for having donated to Democrats and registering as a Republican only the last couple of years, calling him an "on-again-off-again Republican."
Siprelle, an investment banker from Princeton, who's making his first run for elected office, countered by labeling Halfacre as a "status quo career politician."
Halfacre's mayoral term ends next January and as for the future, "I've given it some thought, but we've made no decisions."
"But listen," he added, "I'm perfectly content going home to my family."
His released press statement does offer a hint that Halfacre may again look to run. Commenting on this experience, he said in the release, "I will be a better candidate in the future for having gone through this..."
