Claim: Paul Troast, a wealthy building contractor from Passaic, New Jersey won the republican primary for the 1953 New Jersey gubernatorial with Malcolm Forbes coming in behind him.
Evidence: Paul Lyman Troast (November 19, 1894 – July 21, 1972) was a wealthy building contractor from Passaic, New Jersey, chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority during its construction, and failed gubernatorial candidate in 1953. In 1953, Troast won the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey and faced Robert B. Meyner, a little-known one-term former member of the New Jersey Senate who had been chosen by a Democratic Party that was largely dysfunctional and hadn't been successful in getting a candidate elected to statewide office since 1940. Seven major candidates had run in the primary, with Troast beating second place candidate Malcolm Forbes by 47,000 votes.