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Breaking from the antiamnesty, secure-the-border hawkishness coursing through the national Republican Party, New Jersey's GOP nominee for a U.S. Senate seat says he would fight for "comprehensive immigration reform" in Washington.

And like many Republicans, Jeff Bell is claiming the mantle of Ronald Reagan.

"Ronald Reagan once said, 'Latinos are Republicans - they just don't know it yet.' Maybe that's politically incorrect to repeat in 2014," Bell wrote in an e-mail to supporters Wednesday. "But I do agree with the premise behind his assertion: If the Republican Party makes the case to them, Hispanics will vote GOP."

Republican Gov. Christie won 51 percent of the Latino vote when he was reelected last year, although he has not taken a position on federal immigration policy.

Other Republicans, both locally (Steve Lonegan) and nationally (U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz), have embraced Reagan but have endorsed immigration policies radically different from Bell's.

Cruz, for one, has opposed a Senate bill that would create a path to citizenship. Bell, who is running a quixotic campaign focused on a return to the gold standard, supports granting citizenship to the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.

Booker also supports a path to citizenship.

The chances of passing immigration reform plummeted in recent months amid an influx of Central American migrants streaming across the Mexican border.

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In N.J., GOP Senate candidate endorses immigration reform