Credit: mtstradling via Openverse licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.Last year’s redrawing of New Jersey legislative district lines, along with other factors, prompted 21 lawmakers to quit and six others to seek higher office, allowing dozens of newcomers to seek a shot at a seat in the state Assembly or Senate.
The New Jersey Division of Elections reported that close to 260 Democrats and Republicans filed petitions by Monday’s deadline to run in the June primary, hoping to ultimately win one of the 120 seats open in the Legislature this year.
But despite the unusually large turnover, most of the parties’ nominations will be uncontested. Democrats or Republicans have just 25 challenges for spots on the November ballot. Some of these are in parts of the state where grassroots Democrats have been trying to unseat machine-backed politicians for years, such as the 18th and 19th districts in Middlesex County and the 20th in Union. Others are in GOP districts in Morris (26th) and Sussex (24th) counties, where ultraconservatives are battling more mainstream Republicans.
NJ’s new legislative district
The highest-profile matchup is in the new 27th District that straddles Essex and Passaic counties. Last year, the bipartisan commission that redrew district lines moved Montclair, the part of the neighboring 34th District where Democratic Sen. Nia Gill lives, into the 27th, long-represented by Sen. Richard Codey, a fellow Democrat who served two years as governor. Gill can be something of a rebel in the Senate; she does not always vote the party line on controversial bills and unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) for the presidency of the Senate in January 2022 after Steve Sweeney lost his Senate seat in the November election.
Gill is running as part of a full slate of Democrats that includes Eve Robinson, program director for Grow NJ Kids and a fellow Montclair resident, and Frank Kasper, a teacher and former board of education member from Clifton. Assemblyman John McKeon has served in the Assembly since 2002 and was expected to be running with Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, who was moved into the district, but Giblin recently announced his retirement.
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, who current represents the 27th with McKeon, also decided to retire rather than run in a different district, the 28th, where the new map placed her South Orange hometown. McKeon is running instead with Alixon Collazos-Gill, who works for the public affairs organization founded by her husband, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill.
It is very difficult for a candidate without party backing to beat one who has received the preferential ‘party line’ on the ballot.
In Hudson County, Democratic Sen. Nicholas Sacco avoided another intraparty fight when he chose to retire rather than face Sen. Brian Stack after they were put into the same district. That and other machinations in Hudson County politics have left only two sitting lawmakers — Stack and Assemblyman William Sampson — running for reelection to their current office in the county’s three main districts.
Who’s hot in the 3rd?
There are also heated battles for the nominations in the 3rd District representing Salem County and parts of Cumberland and Gloucester counties. The site of the biggest upset in 2021, Sweeney’s ouster, five of the six nominations are contested. Republican Sen. Edward Durr, who beat Sweeney against all odds, faces a challenge from his current Assembly colleague Beth Sawyer, who also won in an upset two years ago. On the Democratic side, John Burzichelli, a former Democratic assemblyman ousted by Sawyer and her running mate Bethanne McCarthy Patrick, is looking to get back into the Legislature, seeking his party’s Senate nomination against Mario De Santis, a Glassboro teacher making his third attempt at public office.
State House dominated by white men. Vacancies offer opportunities for others to serve
It’s unclear how successful some of the challenges by newcomers may be. It is very difficult for a candidate without party backing to beat one who has received the preferential “party line” on the ballot in the majority of counties that use the line, particularly given the low turnout in primaries for state races. A lawsuit seeking to end the practice of designing ballots according to county party endorsements is pending.
It is also difficult to beat an incumbent, who typically has more money and better name recognition, though the first election after redistricting typically gives challengers their best shot because the incumbent is generally not well known in at least parts of the newly drawn district.
GOP gunning for the Senate
Democrats have controlled both houses of the Legislature since 2004. Republican leaders have said the new legislative map gives them the best chance in decades to capture at least the Senate this fall.
Some of the retirements by senators have led to additional upheaval in the State House.
In addition to the 21 senators and Assembly members leaving Trenton, six Assembly members are giving up their seats to try to move up to the Senate, where elections are usually every four years, as opposed to every two years in the Assembly. None are facing a primary challenge and four of the six are in districts they are likely to win in November: Republican Parker Space in the 24th based in Sussex County and Democrats Angela McKnight in the 31st and Raj Mukherji in the 32rd in Hudson County and Britnee Timberlake in the 34th in Essex. Democratic Assemblyman Paul Moriarty’s 4th District covering parts of Atlantic, Camden and Gloucester counties became more Republican in redistricting, and he could face a tough battle in November if he wins his party’s nomination this spring. While Durr got GOP backing for his reelection bid in the 3rd District, Sawyer has name recognition as the current assemblywoman, but whoever wins the primary could have a tough time in a district that used to be solidly Democratic and which the Democrats would like to recapture.
In all, 135 Democrats and 123 Republicans filed for the 120 open slots for each party for the primary, which is to be held June 6.
Two Republicans are also running in different districts as a result of redistricting: Assemblyman Brian Bergen of Morris County was moved from the 25th to the 26th, switching places on the ballot with Assemblyman Christian Barranco of Passaic. Bergen and running mate Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-Morris) face a challenge from former Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce. The Morris County GOP declined to endorse DeCroce for reelection in 2021 and she subsequently lost the primary to Barranco and her running mate Robert Peluso, a former Parsippany councilman. They are running with Tom Mastrangelo, a Morris County commissioner, who is challenging Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, in his 23rd year in the Legislature.
Voters in most districts will not have a choice among legislative candidates as just one Democrat and Republican filed for Senate nominations and two each for Assembly. In seven districts, one or more nominations will eventually go to write-in candidates as no candidate filed. Republicans did not file for 11 openings in both houses in blue districts, while Democrats failed to file for one Assembly slot in the heavily Republican 24th District. In all, 135 Democrats and 123 Republicans filed for the 120 open slots for each party for the primary, which is to be held June 6.
Sex education, abortion rights and gun control are already talking points
