BRICK, NJ — Kevin Tober says he's used to tense situations at political events. But after the 23-year-old from Brick got shoved at a town hall held by Phil Murphy, the Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, he and fellow Republicans are looking for an apology from the candidate.

The event was held at the Hibernian Club in the Hamilton Square section on Wednesday evening, and apparently broadcast as a Facebook Live event on Murphy's campaign Facebook page. Tober, a 23-year-old from Brick who works for the Senate Republicans said he attended to gather information for the GOP on what Murphy was saying.

A 23-second video clip being circulated by the self-described conservative blog Save Jersey shows Tober trying to get Murphy's attention and staffers trying to block him and force him out of the event. One person comes into the frame and gives Tober a shove twice to get him out of the area. The blog says the clip was taken from the Facebook Live video before it was taken down.

An email sent to the Murphy campaign requesting comment had not been answered as of 5:30 p.m. Friday. Tober was dressed up like a gas pump, referencing talks state Republicans say would raise the state's gas tax to the tune of a $1.3 billion impact on residents. His appearance sparks laughter as he tries to draw Murphy's attention. Murphy, whose back is to him, says, "Is there something going on I'm missing?" Someone in the audience can be heard to say "Someone thinks it's Halloween," an apparent reference to Tober's outfit. Tober shouts a question, but Murphy ignores him, continuing with the topic he was discussing. When Tober shouts a second time, a man in a white shirt can be seen shoving Tober twice. At that point Murphy can be heard to say, "Careful everybody, careful," and a second staffer appears to intervene and put his hands out to prevent additional shoving.

Tober said he was at the event as a tracker, someone who attends campaign appearances by opposing candidates to document what they do or say. "Every serious campaign has a tracker," he said. It's not uncommon for the staff of the candidate to try to disrupt what a tracker is doing, which typically involves filming the appearance.

"They will try to block you, but it's never anything physical," he said. "I've never had something like this happen."

Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, tweeted a photo of Tober at the event and mentioned him in a couple of tweets that imply Murray was expecting something to happen. But whether Murray was still at the event at the time of the confrontation was unclear, and a phone call requesting comment was not immediately returned.

Carlos Rendo, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno's running mate in the gubernatorial campaign, lashed out at the Murphy campaign, likening the incident to Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba and its stifling of dissent, according to Save Jersey. Frank Luna, the Third District chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, criticized Murphy and also ripped the news media for not reporting the incident, which had only been posted by the Save Jersey blog on Friday morning.