His Successor Stuck in Scandal, New Jersey's Recently Resigned GOP Chairman to Return

Sam Raia, the mayor of Saddle River who recently resigned as New Jersey Republican state chairman, is coming back to the job, The Star-Ledger has learned.

At a meeting tonight in Princeton, Republican county chairmen were told that Raia planned to continue as chairman for the time being, according to two sources present for the meeting.

Raia announced his resignation earlier this month and was to be replaced by Bill Stepien, a former staffer to Gov. Chris Christie who managed his November re-election. But Stepien got caught up in the George Washington Bridge scandal when emails surfaced of him calling Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich an "idiot." It's not clear if Raia — who had been chairman since 2011 — will stay on for a full two year term.