MONTVILLE – Three Republican candidates in LD-26 were taking turns Monday night highlighting their opposition to abortion; no upset here.

But then Assemblyman Brian Bergen took a swipe at Paul DeGroot, bringing up his “team’s” appearance at a “Roevember” rally last fall. Later, Tayfun Selen did likewise.

Selen, an incumbent Morris County Commissioner, is running against DeGroot in the June 6 primary.

Bergen is not going against DeGroot, but he is running against the legislative candidates DeGroot is associated with.

“You are who you align yourself with,” Bergen said at a “candidates’ night” at the local senior center. It was originally conceived as a debate, but legislative candidates Tom Mastrangelo for Senate and BettyLou DeCroce and Rob Peluso for Assembly didn’t appear.  Those are the three running with DeGroot.

That gave the incumbent trio of Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Assemblymen Jay Webber and Bergen free reign. Along with Selen, they have the endorsement of the Morris County Republican Committee.

Abortion has always been a divisive issue, but passions have risen – with no apparent end in sight – since last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Webber noted that the Roe decision has opened up the conversation, given the fact abortion is no longer a settled matter.

But it is in New Jersey, where the Democratic-controlled Legislature essentially has codified the principles of the original Roe opinion into state law.

No matter, Republicans in contested primaries are going to stress their “pro-life” views every chance they get.

And that’s what made Monday night’s back and forth interesting.

Nothing happens in a vacuum, so here’s the backstory.

DeGroot, you recall, was the Republican candidate last fall in CD-11 against Democrat Mikie Sherrill.

This was a race Sherrill was destined to win easily with about 60 percent of the vote, but she did not know that in October. Prompted probably by talk of a “red wave,” Sherrill spent lavishly and attacked DeGroot as being against abortion even in the case of rape and incest.

DeGroot tried to fight back by saying he was, in fact, “pro-choice,” but that he backed the court’s decision to send abortion policy back to the states. This was a tricky balancing act to be sure, given the fact some states do indeed ban abortion with no exception for rape or incest.

In the midst of this came a “Roevember” rally in Montclair on Oct. 8. The DeGroot campaign asked for volunteers to attend to make the point that their candidate was pro-choice. Some of the messages before the event said DeGroot would attend, but he did not.

While this was very much a Democratic-inspired event, the DeGroot campaign contended its attendance was a necessary move to counter what it considered Sherrill’s lies about the Republican opposing abortion at all times.

That was six months ago, but nothing in politics goes away.

On Monday, DeGroot explained that he had to somehow counter Sherrill’s constant attack ads against him.

And he said that Bergen and Selen “crossed the line” in trying to capitalize on something that happened in another campaign.

DeGroot added that if Bergen thought that he (DeGroot) attended the rally, “his intel was wrong.”

And as he sparred with Selen about this, DeGroot said he was upfront from the get-go.

“I never made any misrepresentation,” he said.

As for his opponents’ tactics, DeGroot said, “I’m a big boy, I can take it.”

Broadly speaking, Monday’s debate demonstrates how abortion is such a litmus test. This is true for both parties – Republicans must be pro-life and Democrats pro-choice.

Deviate from those positions and you’re going to have trouble, as DeGroot discovered. Some pro-life Democrats have learned that as well.

And speaking broadly again, the sincerity of GOP opposition to abortion is understood. However, ever since the Dobbs decision, voters everywhere have been more aligned with the pro-choice position, beginning with a referendum in Kansas last August up to the surprisingly easy win by an abortion rights supporter in this month’s Wisconsin state Supreme Court race.

This is really something for Republicans not to overlook with state legislative races on tap this fall.