The event is no longer being held at the business owned by Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus
SPARTA -- The Sussex County Republican Committee is moving its primary night results party after a disagreement over New Jersey's gas tax increase precipitated a falling-out and an aborted primary challenge.
For at least the past five years, primary and general election after-parties were held at the Farmstead Golf and Country Club owned by Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus, R-24th District.
Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus However, county party chair Jerry Scanlan said in an email Saturday that Sussex Republicans will gather on primary night, June 6, at the Homestead Restaurant in Sparta.
Scanlan announced the new location six weeks after Phoebus ended her primary challenge to Sen. Steve Oroho, R-24th District, and said she would not seek a second term to the Assembly.
His email to Sussex Republicans did not disclose who initiated the location change.
Scanlan, contacted Sunday by NJ Advance Media, said it was prompted by a desire to "share the wealth," rather than any rift.
"Just a change of pace. Trying something new," Scanlan said.
Phoebus diverged from Oroho last summer after Oroho co-sponsored legislation, signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie, raising the state's gas tax as part of a broader tax restructuring plan.
In January, Phoebus was displaced from the GOP re-election team when former N.J. labor commissioner Hal Wirths announced his Assembly candidacy on a ticket with Oroho and Assemblyman Parker Space, R-24th District.
Space, like Phoebus, voted against raising the gas tax.
In February, Phoebus -- who had moved out of the district office she shared with Oroho and Space -- said she would challenge Oroho in the Republican primary for Senate.
Phoebus reversed course, six days before the April 3 filing deadline, and said she would neither oppose Oroho in the primary nor seek a second term in the Assembly.
Oroho is being opposed in the Senate primary by William Hayden, while Nathan Orr and David Atwood are challenging Space and Wirths in the Assembly primary.
The 24th District includes all of Sussex County, Mount Olive in Morris County and eleven municipalities in Warren County.
Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook