In one of New Jersey’s most-watched legislative battleground districts, Democratic candidates Gina LaPlaca and Mark Natale showed at last night’s NAACP forum.

Their LD8 Republican counterparts did not.

The GOP ticket mates immediately responded to InsiderNJ with their reasons for not attending the forum.

“I committed to being the keynote speaker at the Burlington County Chamber of Commerce ‘State of the County’ event last night,” Assemblyman Ryan Peters (R-8) told InsiderNJ. “I was there with Herb Conaway. I would have gone to the NAACP event but I committed to this event first. ”

Retiring Burlington County Sheriff Jean Stanfield was slated to attend, but did not owing to illness, she said.

“I apologize for being sick and that I was looking forward to the event as I have participated in several NAACP and Tabernacle Baptist Church programs in the past regarding law enforcement and the community and always felt the dialog was meaningful and important,” Stanfield said. “As former chair of the Burlington County Human Relations Commission and former chair of the New Jersey Human Relations Commission I have always enjoyed the opportunity to discuss issues of concern in the community. That’s why I worked with Faith in Action!, Inc. To hold teen forums and develop the Police and Teens Together (PATT) program as sheriff.”

In a fast-intensifying contest, Democrats felt the particular sting of the GOP’s absence in the aftermath of a GOP operative sneak-attacking LaPlaca at a weekend picnic to ask about a racist General Majority PAC mailer issued in the battleground 1st District.