Hank Kurz and Frank Lehr.

Bounced 18 years ago off the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders, they are the last two people on that board who claimed membership in the Republican Party.

Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-16) wants to change that history.

“We’re going to get you a freeholder,” the gubernatorial candidate told Union County Republican Chairman Glenn Mortimer last night on his way out the door.

Ciattarelli hopes to land the nomination and run a working class roots campaign in counties like Union, but that will be difficult with Democratic Party strongholds Elizabeth, Plainfield and Rahway lopsidedly outperforming their more suburbanized counterparts.

Last year, the Democratic ticket whipped the GOP by a 2-1 margin.