Download the 2021 General Election publication or view it below

Tempestuous times that include a fatal pandemic, the storming of the U.S. Capitol by right-wing insurrectionists, and a tropical storm that killed 30 New Jerseyans have contributed little apparently in the end to galvanize the 2021 election cycle.

On one level it feels odd, this disconnect between real terrors on the ground and a languid political environment, but people truly seem exhausted by it all.

It’s understandable.

The back-to-back demagogic eras of Chris Christie and Donald Trump contributed to a weakening of the NJGOP, culminating this year with the retirement from state government of Senator Tom Kean, Jr., Senator Kip Bateman, and Senator Chris Brown. The last report from the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) shows incumbent Democratic Governor Phil Murphy with a 7-1 cash advantage over Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli ($7.3 million to $1.2 million).

We have gone through so much lately that the typically lurid and petty strains of politics fail to penetrate with any kind of motivating meaning.

Incumbents and their highly paid consultants will say the mood has to do with a job well done – nothing need change with so much going right. Such a statement seems preposterous until one examines those pandering forces on the opposing side, seldom able to move without placating extremist devotees of former President Donald J. Trump.

It adds up to a kind of perfect storm of cynicism and complacency, assisted by a substantially depleted media in this state since the last highly contested gubernatorial contest in 2009, which starkly threatens our representative democracy.

Regardless of whom you support in this election cycle, Democrat or Republican, or a third-party candidate, the time has come to take our primary documents in hand as citizens, and ensure, each in his own way, a contribution of substance and thoughtfulness.

Let us commit to restoring our civic discourse; only then can we ensure an intellectual rigor in our public square now absent, and a future now so gravely uncertain.

Download the 2021 General Election publication or view it below: