Source: Politics<\/p>\n
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. \u2014\u00a0New Jersey\u2019s kingmaker didn\u2019t see it coming.<\/p>\n
George Norcross, the South Jersey insurance executive who leads one of the most powerful Democratic organizations in the country, had no idea Gov. Phil Murphy\u2019s victory over Republican Jack Ciattarelli would come down to just a couple of percentage points. He didn\u2019t see Democrats losing a half-dozen legislative seats to a Republican party that\u2019s been in decline since Gov. Chris Christie left the Statehouse four years ago.<\/p>\n
He certainly didn\u2019t see his close friend and political ally, state Senate President Steve Sweeney, losing an election to an unknown truck driver<\/a> with a campaign war chest that would barely cover the cost of a few tickets to a New Jersey Democratic State Committee fundraising event.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just a tsunami,\u201d Norcross said in an interview. \u201cNobody saw this coming. Nobody. Including me, and I like to think I\u2019m pretty astute about this.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s gut check time for New Jersey Democrats. Every public poll had Murphy\u2019s margin of victory in the high single digits or better. Turnout models from Monmouth University\u2019s Polling Institute to state Democratic internals failed to predict a Republican wave in New Jersey, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 1 million voters.<\/p>\n Sweeney was caught in the riptide and Norcross, a prolific fundraiser and unelected party chieftain with close ties to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, attributes his friend\u2019s collapse and Murphy\u2019s close shave to the party\u2019s dismal plodding through the first year of President Joe Biden\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n The administration\u2019s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, followed by months of infighting over an ever-shrinking multi-trillion dollar infrastructure and social spending package \u2014\u00a0the House passed the infrastructure bill Friday night \u2014 evaporated support within Democratic strongholds and erased gains made in conservative districts.<\/p>\n According to Norcross, Democrats need to change voter perceptions fast if they want to preserve their majority in the House of Representatives. As many as four or five Democratic members of New Jersey\u2019s House delegation will run into challenges with redistricting and reelection \u201cif this mood maintains itself,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Trouble came early for Sweeney, a moderate Democrat from Gloucester County, who was widely believed to be angling for a gubernatorial run in 2025. Despite his decade-plus tenure as South Jersey\u2019s political champion and his interminable grip on the state Senate, Sweeney was one of several \u201clegislators [who] were blindly just targeted and ripped apart by voters who in many cases wouldn\u2019t even know who they were voting for or against,\u201d Norcross said.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the folks in the Democratic caucuses now realize that the voters are not asking, they\u2019re demanding, for change,\u201d Norcross said. \u201cAnd we better give it to them. Otherwise, we\u2019re going to end up being a minority party.\u201c<\/p>\n