One by one the candidates for governor this year have been announcing they won’t participate in their party’s conventions, typically an important part of the primary process. This is where candidates compete for the endorsements of their organizations and the spot those endorsements previously earned them on the primary ballot.
“We heard this week that state Sen. Jon Bramnick has said he will not participate in the convention process,” explained NJ Spotlight News Senior Writer Colleen O’Dea. “Ed Durr is not participating. Bill Spadea isn’t participating, mostly. Although we had heard that he was going to be talking to the Ocean County Republicans. I think they had a screening process last night and Spadea is expected to get the line in Ocean County.”
“On the Democratic side, you’ve got Steve Fulop, the Jersey City mayor who said he won’t participate. You know, it’s a question of are these people not participating because they think, well, I’m not going to win anyway. So, I’m going to get out in front of this,” said O’Dea. “And there may be some of both, you know, people who genuinely feel I don’t want to be part of this process that really has come under a lot of negative scrutiny recently.”
As the power of the party boss system continues to be questioned, state lawmakers introduce yet another new ballot design that critics say does nothing to make the system more fair. They argue New Jersey’s ballot design gives an unfair advantage to candidates who are backed by major parties.
