Montville resident Paul DeGroot won the endorsement of the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization for Congress in CD-11 in a vote Thursday night by the organization’s executive committee.
DeGroot won the PCRRO support overwhelmingly.

“I am extremely honored to have the strong backing of the PCRRO leadership,” said DeGroot, 55, a first-time political candidate.

“I will do everything I can to reward the faith that the PCRRO has placed in me to represent the Republican Party throughout the district in the election to recapture CD-11 for Republicans,” added DeGroot, a former county prosecutor.

DeGroot is seeking the Republican nomination to run against Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill in the November election.

DeGroot was born and raised in Passaic County to a firefighter dad and a homemaker mom. He attended public schools in Clifton, commuted to Montclair State University and went on to graduate from the University of Maryland with a degree in political science.

DeGroot earned a JD degree in 1993 from Widener University School of Law in Delaware. In 1996, DeGroot found his calling as a prosecutor in the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. DeGroot was promoted to Chief Prosecutor for the Homicide, Narcotics, and Internal Affairs Corruption units in Passaic County.

He is married to Sharon and they have two children, Alexander 4, and Jordan1.