Atlantic County GOP Chairman Keith Davis acknowledges a post-Trump-presidency searching period in his party, which nonetheless does not diminish, in his opinion, the effectiveness of the Republican message on the economy, especially in his home county.

Davis is energized this season.

“The more debates the better,” said the Republican chair, looking ahead to the general election and a presumed matchup between his candidate for the LD2 senate seat, former Assemblyman Vince Polistina, and the Democrats’ choice, Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo.

Mazzeo is an infamously bad debater.

Polistina routinely distinguishes himself.

Davis anticipates a bubble-wrapped Mazzeo come the fall.

In the meantime, Polistina and the GOP have to get through a primary.

Polistina commands column A, while movement conservative Seth Grossman “is in Siberia.”

“An annoyance,” Davis said of Grossman’s candidacy.  “We like to eat our own instead of focusing on the Democrats. He showed up, approached the microphone [at the convention] and withdrew name from consideration and said he would run in the primary.

“Not good,” Davis added.

There are 20K more Democrats than Republicans in Atlantic County.

The GOP needs to stick together.

“We always get outspent, because nobody likes them here, so they have to stick their hand out of Atlantic County to bring in the campaign cash,” Davis said of the Democrats.

“Vince is going to win [on June 8th],” he added. “He’s a winner now and he’ll be a winner in November.

The chairman said he is excited about the Republican gubernatorial candidacy of Jack Ciattarelli.

“I’ve been attracted to the candidacy of Jack Ciattarelli for a long time,” he said. “He’s a small businessperson who comes from Main Street, who understands how to meet a bottom line. I watched him on the stump last week at the Somers Point Republican Club. He just held the room. They were captivated by him. The governor is leading the state in the wrong direction and we are seeing an erosion of the governor’s support. A growing portion of the electorate is saying we need somebody else. I think Jack Ciattarelli is that guy.

“His candidacy is a good example of where we have unified,” Davis added. “I was out front saying we need to coalesce around Jack and we have rallied around him, which gives him a boost going into the fall.”

Annual statewide candidate Hirsh Singh of Davis’ hometown of Linwood is hanging around, of course.

Davis liked Singh.

Saw a lot of promise.

Urged him to run for local office.

“But that was never good enough; he wanted to reach for the brass ring, and [run] every year,” Davis said. “He needs to take a step back. This scorched earth approach hurts him and hurts the party. I wish we saw a more message driven campaign.

For InsiderNJ’s FULL interview with Chairman Davis, please watch the video below: