Samuel S. Raia (August 25, 1948 – March 19, 2026) was a Republican Party politician who was the former of Mayor of Saddle River, New Jersey and past Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee.
Raia has served as mayor of Saddle River from 2009 to 2017 and had served on the town council prior to his election. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Hackensack University Medical Center. He became chairman of the New Jersey Republican party in January 2011.https://www.trentonian.com/2011/01/11/nj-republican-party-elects-samuel-raia-new-state-chairman/https://www.nj.com/news/2011/01/nj_republican_party_elects_new_1.html He announced his resignation as state chair in January 2014.https://whyy.org/articles/njs-gop-state-chairman-announces-his-resignation/ However, later that month, he decided to continue to serve as chair.https://www.governing.com/news/headlines/His-Successor-Stuck-in-Scandal-New-Jerseys-Recently-Resigned-GOP-Chairman-to-Return.html https://www.nj.com/politics/2014/01/recently_resigned_nj_republican_chairman_to_return.html
Raia earned a B.S. from Seton Hall University and an M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University.https://web.archive.org/web/20160411154033/http://www.raiaproperties.com/management.asphttps://ballotpedia.org/Samuel_Raia
Raia died on March 19, 2026 at the age of 77.https://newjerseyglobe.com/in-memoriam/sam-raia-ex-new-jersey-gop-state-chairman-dies-at-77/https://www.volkleberfuneralhome.com/obituaries/samuel-raia/#!/Obituary
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