The establishment met the news about Jamel Holley’s run for a state senate seat in LD20 with all the enthusiasm of one hand clapping.

“Not real,” snapped a source. “And if it is, he can’t win off the line.”

If it does indeed develop as sources insist it will, the name of Hillside Councilman Craig Epps (pictured) surfaced as a potential Holley challenger on the line with state Senator Joe Cryan (D-20).

Cryan and Holley don’t like each other.

A source told InsiderNJ that Union County Democratic Committee Chairman Nick Scutari hoped to repair the rift and bring Holley back but Cryan hardly warmed to the idea, especially irritated by the assemblyman’s cultivation of pandemic conspiracy theories, which he argues have endangered the people of the district.