The election was almost four months ago, but the glow of victory is not wearing off for Morris County Democrats.

The Morris Dems threw a “victory gala” Sunday night at a Japanese restaurant in Parsippany. Amid cocktails and sushi, more than 300 of the party faithful celebrated last fall’s wins and confidently looked ahead. Featured speakers were congressional representatives Mikie Sherrill (District 11) and Tom Malinowski (District 7), who combined now represent the entire county in the House.

County chair Chip Robinson  spoke, as all of the county’s long-time Democrats do, of the past.

“Many people over the years passed us by, thinking we were irrelevant, that we couldn’t win,” Robinson said in an obvious reference to Republicans.

Thanks to Donald Trump’s unpopularity in New Jersey (less than 40 percent approval rating in all polls) and a bit of demographic change, things have turned – at least for the moment.

Besides wins for Congress, an upbeat Robinson, a man who never needs a microphone, said the number of Democratic office holders in Morris have jumped from 33 to 61 in the last four years.

The municipal candidates who won for the first time were called up on stage to take bows. And then, Robinson asked this year’s state Legislative candidates to come forward. Only the Assembly is up this year and Democrats already have candidates, all of whom are women, in the county’s two main legislative districts – 25 and 26.

It was Darcy Draeger of Chester Township (District 25) who delivered the most passionate address – an emotional speech about how the Affordable Care Act helped her family cope with a serious illness. This may not be a state issue in itself, but it very well encapsulated Democratic Party philosophy.

This year’s race is an interesting one to speculate about. Democratic groups such as NJ11th for Change and Blue Wave New Jersey likely will work hard to replicate the grassroots interest we saw last November, but still, this is the state Assembly, not Congress. A sobering fact here for Democrats is that Republican hold a registration advantage in both districts.

But that discussion was for another day.

Sherrill came to the podium and said she found the House to be as partisan as people said it was before she got there. But that may not always be the case.

“Change is coming,” she said. “It’s not as fast as we like, but it’s coming.”

Partisanship, of course, is an interesting thing. While many talk about the need for “bipartisanship,” that sometimes means getting the “other guys” to come over to your side. Now that Democrats control the House, their hope is that soon-to-be-voted on legislation to enhance voters’ rights and to expand universal background checks for gun purchases will get some moderate Republican support.

Sherrill also was thinking about this year’s election and the effort the party must make to win.

“We don’t have an off year around here,” she said confidently.

Malinowski reminded the crowd that legislation on voting rights, gun safety and other issues dear to Democrats is only possible because of what the party accomplished last fall in New Jersey and around the country. There is now only one Republican from New Jersey in the House, something that has not happened for about 100 years.

The new congressman said party workers should be proud, adding a personal note, “I couldn’t have done it without western Morris County.” Actually, Malinowski lost the Morris part of the district to Republican Leonard Lance, but not by much.

Amid the glow, Malinowski referenced the Trump presidency and some of the alleged scandals surrounding it, saying, “We know our country is still in trouble.”

Even with a GOP-controlled Senate, Malinowski said House Democrats will do what they can.

This week, in fact, he said, “We are going to vote to overturn that stupid state of emergency.”

That earned a standing ovation.