A Way Forward for Progressives in New Jersey

In the vast majority of races, New Jersey progressives lost again this week.

While calls to reform New Jersey’s ballot and reduce the power of county parties grow, the ballot line’s power was on full display in this year’s primary. I’m disappointed that one of the nation’s bluest states can’t elect real progressives on the local, state, and federal level.

The ballot line surely benefits establishment-backed candidates, but I refuse to believe that this week’s outcome was inevitable. Progressives in New Jersey fought hard, but I know we can do better.

I’ll get straight to the point with five recommendations to get us started.

1. The New Jersey “progressive” movement’s leadership is too white. I am white. This is obvious to me. The most published and most quoted voices on abolishing the line and taking on the machine are white. This needs to change — and it’s up to white people to cede power and be actively inclusive.

Inclusivity is both a moral and practical imperative. Women, non-binary people, working-class people, and people of color are most harmed and most disenfranchised by New Jersey’s machine. After all, machine-backed candidates are responsible for ICE detention contracts, police impunity, and longtime inaction from Trenton on healthcare and environmental concerns. To win and elect responsive, progressive leaders, we need a movement that includes and reaches those who are most harmed by the state’s establishment.

2. New Jersey progressives should focus less on County Committee seats, and more on offices with policymaking power. New Jersey’s County Committees hold an immense amount of political power, and each member represents a small area. I understand the appeal of trying to win these elections.

Progressives in Hudson County won 20 County Committee seats this week. While this is good news that demonstrates hard work pays off, we should be sober about the implications. First, many of these wins came in downtown Jersey City, by far the whitest and most gentrified part of the city. Progressives didn’t fare as well in more diverse parts of Jersey City, or in Camden, where people of color make up the majority of voters. See my first recommendation for more on why this matters.

Moreover, County Committees are large — they can have up to 1,000 members in total. So even if progressives pick up some seats each cycle, it could take more than 20 years to reach a majority, which is required for electing party leadership.

It will be an uphill battle to convince a wider base of voters to care about these elections, especially because the County Committee is a political body with no direct impact on policymaking. But voters do care about Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, ICE contracts, and so much more. If we spent our time, energy, and money on elections with a chance to change policy in these areas, we’d reach more voters and have a better chance at long-term success. Winning bigger elections will erode the power of the line far more quickly than winning County Committee elections.

3. We need to engage voters — and not on Twitter. Unlike progressives in New York, we aren’t building movements that reach and engage voters. Speaking directly and compellingly to voters shouldn’t be difficult. After all, we’re up against an establishment far more concerned with preserving its own power than with inspiring voters.

But I didn’t see an inspiring and engaging message from most New Jersey progressives this cycle. When New Jersey progressives run against the machine, they often don’t explain how the state’s political establishment impedes a progressive agenda. Moreover, progressive candidates don’t always paint a clear picture of how New Jersey will be different if they win.

4. We need to talk about the line with people who are unfamiliar with it. Efforts like the People’s Ballot Initiative, where Imani Oakley is speaking directly to voters about the line and its impact, will make far more of a difference than this op-ed, back-and-forths on New Jersey’s small corner of Twitter, or Zoom forums and Slack channels with the same 50–100 people on them. Speaking to voters about the line will grow the movement to abolish it.

We also need to pressure our elected officials to come out against the line and take tangible legislative steps to abolish it. Our Governor, our Senators, and our overwhelmingly Democratic Congressional Delegation rely on Democratic volunteers and small-dollar donors to win re-election. We can pressure all of them to take concrete action — as legislators and active members of their county parties — to abolish the line. Yes, that includes Democrats in competitive seats; after all, swing voters tend to dislike the corruption, backroom deals, and special interest politics that define New Jersey’s landscape.

5. It’s time to go national. The 2020 Democratic Presidential primary — and a number of Congressional primary wins across the county — demonstrated the growing strength of progressives in the Democratic party. Progressives are engaged, smart, and interested in elections that aren’t necessarily in their state or their district.

To win, New Jersey progressives need to tap into national donors and volunteers for their campaigns. To do that, we need a unified, coherent message that will resonate with voters, align with progressive priorities, and mobilize grassroots supporters across the country.

New Jersey remains one of the nation’s bluest states, but Trenton’s Democratic establishment continues to disappoint. If we build a strong, electorally successful progressive movement, our leaders in Trenton and Washington might just start answering to us.