New Jersey votes November 2

You know it’s election season when you’re suddenly inundated with breathless emails from campaigns for all over the state . My inbox is currently teeming with such messages, some from long-shots and others from safely entrenched incumbents who could sleepwalk to victory. These Kool Aid-tinged emails usually go something like this: 1) the sky is falling 2) it’s entirely my opponents fault and most importantly 3) give me money.

It’s easy to ignore such unoriginal, boilerplate dreck. But once in a while, a campaign missive gets my attention. This includes a recent email blast from Senate candidate Vince Polistina, who gave us 10,000 reasons to bite.

NJ’s 2nd Legislative District

NJ’s 2nd legislative district is the most high-profile race on the ballot this year.  One of the “swingiest” districts in NJ, it’s among the few competitive legislative races political purists to salivate over.

Seventeen towns make up NJ’s 2nd legislative district including Egg Harbor Township, Pleasantville, and Atlantic City.

The other town in this Atlantic County-based district are Absecon, Brigantine, Buena Borough, Buena Vista Township, Egg Harbor City, Folsom Borough, Hamilton Township, Linwood, Longport Borough, Margate City, Mullica Township, Northfield, Somers Point City, and Ventnor City.

The GOP slate includes Vince Polistina for Senate with Don Guardian and Claire Swift vying for the assembly slots. Democrats fielded Vince Mazzeo for state senate with John Armato and Caren Fitzpatrick rounding out their slate.

This race should be very close and will definitely be very expensive.

Political machinations are well underway with both sides jockeying for an edge as early voting looms on the horizon. When Chris Brown, the GOP incumbent, recently vacated his Senate seat, the Atlantic County GOP chose Polistina to finish out Brown’s term, presumably so he could run this November as an incumbent.

But the GOP gambit flopped when NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney refused to schedule a proper swearing in.

In his saucy email blast, Polistina urged his Democratic opponents “to tell Senate President Sweeney to do the right thing for the people of Atlantic County and swear me in. Sadly, I doubt they have the courage to bite the hand that feeds them.”

That ain’t happening. On their socials, LD2 Democrats portray Polistina’s would-be ascent as premature and for selfish, financial purposes.

“Polistina just can’t wait to start double dipping on the taxpayer dime with a salary from Trenton and millions in taxpayer funded engineering contracts. He doesn’t care about your checkbook, he’s worried about his bank account,” they lament.

But wait????? Did South Jersey democrats really bring up double dipping , the dark art of drawing multiple public sector paychecks, a practice that they’ve spent years perfecting??

“If Mazzeo, Armato and Fitzpatrick put out a joint statement calling for the traditional swearing in by the Senate President and then make sure he gets it done, I will donate my salary as the Senator for the rest of this term to the Atlantic City Boys and Girls Club,” Polistina said in a statement. ” They can either stand with their party bosses or be responsible for over $10,000.00 being donated to help the children of Atlantic City. All they need to do is find the courage to do the right thing for their constituents.”

It’s an audacious challenge for sure. But it won’t happen because Vince Mazzeo and his running mates won’t contradict the party bosses who dominate democratic politics in South Jersey. Democrats in South Jersey almost never cross their bosses. It’s just not done, not even with $10,000 on the line.

Even if it means Atlantic County goes without a state senator for the rest of the year.

2017

Colin Bell was the last Democrat to hold this Senate seat.

Sworn in quickly (within a month!) by Sweeney after his selection by Democratic committee members, Bell’s short-lived  Senate career lasted 94 whole days. Or, the time it takes to rubber-stamp a whole raft whole raft of partisan lame-duck nincompoopery.

So that’s what happened the last time a Democrats, quick to swear in one of their own, held the seat currently coveted by Polistina and Mazzeo.

(Something to remember the next time the South Jersey Democrats feign concern over double dipping.)

Demographics

Despite frequent NJ GOP chicken-littleisms to the contrary, people are not leaving the state in droves. According to 2020 Census data, New Jersey’s population grew by 497,100 this past decade (from 8,791,894 in 2010 to 9,288,994 in last year’s tally.) That’s a 5.7% bounce, a figure slightly dwarfed by the 7.4% national average.

Most of that growth is located beyond the Atlantic County region. Despite population loss in neighboring Cape May, Cumberland, and Cecil Counties, Atlantic County’s population held steady at roughly 274,534.

Per NJ Globe: “The highly-competitive Atlantic-based 2nd district is now 51% white, down from 55% a decade ago.”

According to Micah Rasmussen, who runs the Rebovich Institute for NJ Politics at Rider University, this year’s all white lineup is more diverse than ever. He points to the inclusion of Don Guardian (who’s gay) plus a woman on each ticket.

“No matter which party wins, Atlantic County is likely to gain what qualifies as more diverse representation in our state’s glacial politics,” Mr. Rasmussen told InsiderNJ. “But since we do tend to see a bit of movement within this county’s state legislative delegation, it may be just the beginning of cracking open the door. And because both parties are competitive, we may see them doing more to reach deeper into the counties’ communities.”

Jay Lassiter is an award-winning writer and podcaster. He doesn’t live in the districts but if he did, he’d vote Don Guardian for Assembly. A small donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City might be the next best thing!