Richard Tabor, a New Jersey state trooper and U.S. Army combat veteran, easily won the endorsement of the Atlantic County Republican organization for U.S. Senate at their convention this morning, defeating rival Alex Zdan by a wide margin.
Several Republicans are competing to take on incumbent Democrat Cory Booker.
Tabor defeated Zdan 644-208, a 65%-31% margin. Former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Michael Murphy finished a distant third with 23 votes, one ahead of two-time Senate candidate Natalie Rivera.
Tabor served in Iraq and later spent time in the New Jersey National Guard.
This is Tabor’s third county endorsement: he won the Union County Republican convention with the support of GOP County Chairman Carlos Santos; and Hudson County Republican Chairman Jose Arango told the New Jersey Globe that he is supporting Tabor for U.S. Senate.
If Tabor wins, this would be the first time two Black candidates face off in a statewide race in New Jersey. This would be the fifth time that’s happened nationally: in a 2004 campaign for an open U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican Alan Keyes; Republican U.S. Senator Tim Scott, one of two Black Republicans since Reconstruction, defeated Black Democrats in 2014 and 2016; and in Georgia four years ago, Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock was re-elected against former NFL player Herschel Walker, a onetime New Jersey resident and a Republican.
A Booker vs. Tabor matchup would be the second time the state’s senior senator faced an opponent of color: in 2020, he defeated Rik Mehta, an Indian American.
Robert Lebovics, an Englewood physician, said last week that he is likely to run. Less clear is the Senate candidacy of Steve Boston, an entrepreneur from Ocean City. Boston ran for Senate two years ago but never filed his nominating petitions. He filed a letter of intent to compete for party support in Bergen County in January, but later withdrew it.
Comedian Vinnie Brand, who owns a New Brunswick comedy club, said he was considering a challenge to Booker.
Last year, Tabor briefly sought a State Assembly seat in the 20th district but was forced off the ballot after a residency issue.
Zdan, a former News 12 New Jersey reporter, formally entered the race this week. He has the backing of the Passaic County Republican organization.
Rivera is making her third bid for the U.S. Senate. She finished fourth in a field of five candidates in the 2020 Republican primary with 5.3% of the vote, and received roughly two-thirds of one percent of the vote as an independent in the 2018 U.S. Senate general election.
