Primary Battle In Store for West Deptford GOP Candidates, Dems Unopposed

West Deptford Republican Party chair Joann Priga had a gut feeling Monday morning that there was going to be a primary battle come June.

Turns out, that feeling was right on the money.

Republicans Loran Oglesby and Matt Mahon filed for the primary, joining the local party’s hand-picked candidates, Sam Cianfarini and Ray Chintall on the June ballot.

Oglesby is the former West Deptford Republican Party chair and Gloucester County Republican chair. She also ran for Congress last year, but fell in the primary to eventual Republican candidate Dale Glading by 2,384 votes. Mahon is a newcomer to politics, and a relative newcomer to West Deptford, having lived here just a few years.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Priga said of Oglesby and Mahon’s decision to get on the ballot.

Mahon was in the mix with Chintall and Cianfarini for the West Deptford Republicans’ endorsement, but the party ultimately decided against Mahon, Priga said. She declined to get into specific reasons why Mahon wasn’t chosen, but said the party felt Chintall and Cianfarini were the best choices.

“Our two candidates are excellent,” she said.

Ultimately, Priga isn’t concerned about a primary challenge to the endorsed candidates, and said she’s confident Chintall and Cianfarini can withstand the June election.

“There is not a question in my mind,” she said.

Oglesby and Mahon were not immediately available for comment Monday.

On the Democratic side of the ballot, Hunter Kintzing and Denice DiCarlo are running unopposed on the ticket, with current deputy mayor Len Daws opting out of the Democratic primary race in a bid to go independent.