Source: Politics<\/p>\n
TRENTON, N.J. \u2014 It took three decades for Democratic power broker George Norcross to build one of the most effective and influential political machines in the country. It took one night for the operation to lose its biggest public figure.<\/p>\n
The insurance executive, who has never held elected office, had seized near-absolute control over elections in much of southern New Jersey. He funneled seemingly endless campaign cash to support his allies and crush his foes. His allies won every Democratic legislative seat south of Trenton.<\/p>\n
It all put Norcross and his hand-picked state Senate president, childhood friend Steve Sweeney, in a position to drive virtually every major policy decision in the state, from culling public worker benefits to creating a massive tax incentive program that doled out billions. Their partnership with former Gov. Chris Christie made the Republican\u2019s early success possible.<\/p>\n
News of a federal wiretap<\/a> didn\u2019t hurt Norcross\u2019 clout. Neither did Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, an ally of public sector unions who hired lawyers to dig deeply into Norcross\u2019 use of the state’s tax incentives<\/a>. Nor did progressive efforts to disrupt Norcross’ power<\/a> in the region’s principal city of Camden or its suburbs.<\/p>\n Instead, the biggest hit to the power of Norcross came this month, when a truck driver who spent $10,000 on his campaign defeated Sweeney. It was one of the biggest political upsets in New Jersey history and the biggest in the nation this year \u2014 a dark omen for Democrats worried about the 2022 midterms. That night, South Jersey Democrats also lost two of their six state Senate seats and four of their 12 state Assembly seats, accounting for most of the Democratic Party\u2019s losses in New Jersey, where Murphy stumbled to a narrow, 3-point reelection victory.<\/p>\n Now, Trenton insiders are looking slack-jawed at the diminishment of South Jersey Democrats\u2019 dominance. Sweeney, Norcross and their machine fell victim to a blue collar revolt where the party\u2019s decades-long cultivation of conservative-leaning voters and adherence to flawed internal polling failed to predict or resist a Republican wave.<\/p>\n \u201cThe arithmetic is undeniable in the fact that we\u2019ve lost seats in the southern region,\u201d said state Assemblymember John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), a 19-year incumbent in Sweeney\u2019s district who also lost his seat this month. \u201cI think that speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n The outcome says something important about Democratic chances in the suburbs ahead of next year, when the country will hold 36 governors races on top of congressional elections. The same red wave that handed Sweeney his loss and put Glenn Youngkin in the Virginia governor’s mansion did less damage to Democrats in the more white-collar suburbs in the northern half of New Jersey. As the Democrats in South Jersey also sustained losses at the local level, losing several county offices in the region, Democrats in the north flipped one Senate seat and lost just one Assembly seat. Murphy appeared to do better in some of those areas, too.<\/p>\n That suggests the Republican resurgence of 2021 is not a reversal of the 2018 midterms, when Democrats made remarkable strides in suburbs across the country \u2014 including in New Jersey. Affluent and middle-class suburbs and exurbs that turned from purple to blue three years ago may still be Democratic. It\u2019s in more blue-collar communities, places that already backed Donald Trump, where voters who had supported moderate Democrats for years decided to vote Republican this time around.<\/p>\n Here in Trenton, the impact is already being felt: While South Jersey Democrats still compromise a substantial voting bloc in the state Legislature, January will be the first time in 16 years that one of their own does not preside at the top of either the General Assembly or state Senate.<\/p>\n With Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin set to stay in place and state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) in line to replace Sweeney, it\u2019s a political sea change. Sweeney had worked hand-in-hand with Christie to pare down pensions for new public workers and cut health benefits. Together, they took over struggling Atlantic City and overhauled its finances, restructured South Jersey\u2019s university system and designed a tax credit system that directed millions to Camden.<\/p>\n Prior the pandemic, Sweeney\u2019s relationship with Murphy was strained at the best of times, while the two engaged in open political warfare during the worst times \u2014 something that almost led to a government shutdown as they fought over Murphy\u2019s first budget. Scutari\u2019s rise to power owes more to the now-larger Democratic delegation in Middlesex County, in Central Jersey, whose priorities will be different than those of South Jersey Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get away from those years when Mr. Norcross and Mr. Christie were an oversized influence,\u201d said state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), whom Sweeney ousted as senate president 12 years ago.<\/p>\n How did it happen? In a somber concession announcement Wednesday, Sweeney blamed a \u201cred wave.\u201d Norcross, in an interview with POLITICO shortly after the election, blamed a national anti-Democratic mood defined by the party\u2019s progressive wing. \u201cVoters massively rejected that notion, which was largely defined from the top in Washington, then down through New Jersey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Steve Kush, a Republican consultant who has spent years running unsuccessful legislative candidates against the South Jersey Democratic machine \u2014 and, in 2003, nearly came to blows<\/a> with now-congressman Donald Norcross, George\u2019s brother \u2014 referred back to the man who beat Sweeney: Edward Durr.<\/p>\n \u201cEd Durr said it best. \u2018Two words: Phil Murphy,\u2019\u201d said Kush, who helped Durr\u2019s longshot campaign. Kush said he believes that a general disenchantment with the South Jersey Democrats\u2019 patronage machine may have also played a role. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of folks with jobs in the county government who feel they have to be loyal to the machine. None of them will ever say it out loud. But they tell you. \u2018I\u2019m a Democrat because I have a job,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Murphy campaign, in a memo meant for public consumption, blamed the national environment for the close result in the governor\u2019s race, in which Murphy beat Republican Jack Ciattarelli by about 75,000 votes. The memo credited a \u201csmart, aggressive turnout strategy\u201d of vote-by-mail and early voting that enabled it to \u201cdeliver a victory in the face of historic New Jersey voting patterns, strong GOP turnout, and a challenging national environment for the Democratic Party.\u201d And progressives who detest the South Jersey Democratic machine celebrated Sweeney’s defeat<\/a> \u2014\u00a0albeit to a conservative who had a history of anti-Muslim social media posts<\/a> for which he’s since apologized.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a dent in the machine. There\u2019s an opening \u2014 a small little hole \u2014 and if you keep pushing it, the hole keeps getting bigger and bigger,\u201d said Ronsha Dickerson, a Camden activist and Norcross critic who said she left the Democratic Party because she \u201clost faith\u201d in it but still votes that way.<\/p>\n