Just one month after U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez lured the country's vice president to a local fundraiser at a private home, his challenger is bringing a big name of his own to the area.

A $5,000-a-plate fundraiser for State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), a Middletown resident, was held Wednesday at the home of a Bernardsville attorney that featured Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

"We are grateful for Governor Romney’s support for Senator Kyrillos' campaign against Bob Menendez," Kyrillos' campaign manager, Chapin Fay, wrote Tuesday in an e-mail to Patch.

Menendez held his own high-profile event last month in a Morris Township home where tickets sold for $1,000 each and was attended by Vice President Joe Biden.

About 140 people attended the event, which raised about $400,000, according to the Menendez campaign.

Edward Deutsch, a managing partner of the law firm of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, and his wife expected between 50 and 100 people at their Bernardsville home Wednesday afternoon for the Kyrillos event.

The fundraiser, which was closed to the media, began at 3:30 p.m. Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine said he did not expect the event to significantly impact traffic in the area.

Menendez, who is seeking his second full term as U.S. senator, has announced former President Bill Clinton will attend a fundraiser of his in June.

However, Kyrillos' camp feels the incumbent is losing steam.

"Governor Romney is in New Jersey because Joe's campaign is gaining momentum and Bob Menendez is in trouble," Fay said.

Fay said Kyrillos, 52, and Romney aim to make changes as "Barack Obama and Bob Menendez offer us only more of the same: more spending, more taxes and more job-killing regulation," he said. 

"As Senator Kyrillos travels New Jersey, and Governor Romney the nation," Fay said, "the message is loud and clear: the people of New Jersey and throughout America simply cannot afford more of the same."