This year’s state legislative races are shaping up to be a bumpy ride. The announcement by 87-year-old Republican Sen. Sam Thompson that he will run as a Democrat after Republican Party leaders said they wouldn’t support him in a primary, is just the latest sign. The face of the chambers is already expected to be altered by more than a dozen retirements, with still more than a month to go before the filing deadline.

Analysts predict the new class of legislators will look a lot different than the current crop.

“We’re going to see a Legislature that is at least ten percent different and that’s before we even get to Election Day,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “First of all, we still have farther to go. There are legislators that won’t be reelected. We may still have more legislators who announce that they’re not running between now and the filing deadline in March.”