Republicans had a major blunder on filing day in 2005 when one of their State Assembly candidates in a key district simply forgot to file his nominating petitions. Former Upper Township Mayor Andrew McCrosson was supposed to be GOP Assemblyman Jack Gibson's running mate in the 1st district against two-term Democratic Assemblyman Jefferson Van Drew and his running mate, first-time candidate Nelson Albano. McCrosson's screw up left George Cecola, a perennial candidate who had ran as an independent for State Senate in 2003 and against an incumbent Senator in the 2001 Republican primary.
There were allegations at the time that McCrosson's failure to file was deliberate. Some pundits believe there was a deal between Van Drew and State Sen. Nicholas Asselta, who believed he could protect Van Drew's Assembly seat in exchange for Van Drew's agreement that he would not challenge Asselta for the Senate in 2007.. State Republicans tried to mount a write-in campaign to nominate former Cumberland County Freeholder James Sauro, but they were unsuccessful.
In the general election, Albano ousted Gibson by 7,176 votes. Cecola ran almost 9,000 votes behind Gibson and more than 25,000 votes behind Van Drew.
