Ocean County is a red dot in a blue state. Or better yet, a big red blotch.
The county has about 100,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, making it the largest GOP redoubt in the state. Jack Ciattarelli lost big last year to Mikie Sherrill, but in Ocean he won by about 95,000 votes.

Nonetheless, it is Democrats who are having a spirited battle for county chair.

The vote is Tuesday and the man trying to remain at the helm is a man with a name out of the wild West - Wyatt Earp.

Earp has been chair for more than 20 years, and that seems to be the problem. At least for some people.

Back in April, a group called Ocean Democrats For Progress announced itself and set forth its strategy.

"Ocean Democrats For Progress was formed by Democrats who believe Ocean County deserves a party that works harder, communicates better, and competes more effectively, according to organizers, rooted in a simple belief: leadership should be judged by results."

To that end, the group is running Alison Miller of Stafford Township for county chair.

Her platform includes such things as holding regular meetings with "advanced notice," distributing funds "fairly" to all clubs and candidates and most important perhaps - recruit, engage and register more Democrats.

There is a pattern here that is not at all unique to Ocean.

Whenever a county tilts strongly to one party, a reasonable question is how should the opposition party behave?

One logical response is to be as active as possible. Even if the odds are against you, run a real campaign and if nothing else, annoy the opposition.

That's not happening, say the Democrats who want a new direction.

"For too long, too many Ocean County Democrats have felt like they were on their own,” said Maggie Doucette in a release about the new group. She ran for Point Pleasant Beach council in 2024.

The stats are not good.

According to the Democrats for Progress, the Dems held 39 elected positions in the county in 2006. Now they hold eight. Not exactly upward mobility.

This brings up another point on one-party counties. There are times when the opposition party is more apt to go along with the dominant party than to cause trouble by running legitimate campaigns.

No doubt there are many dissident Democrats who see that happening in Ocean. And they don't like it.

At the same time, challenging a 20-year party chair is not easy.

You are challenging the insiders, and it is, of course, the insiders (county committee members) who vote.

In this case, that happens Tuesday between 1 and 9 p.m.