Over 862,000 people voted in New Jersey’s Democratic Gubernatorial primary election, the largest turnout ever. Moderate Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who touted her experience in the Navy and as a prosecutor, received 285,000 votes and 33% of the total.
The state does not have ranked-choice voting, so with one-third of the vote, she will be facing off against the GOP’s Trump-endorsed Jack Ciattarelli in November’s general election.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, the most progressive candidate in the race and running to be the state’s first Black Governor, came in second place, earning over 173,000 votes or 20.1% of the total.
Sherrill’s campaign was aided by support from ten of the 13 county-level Democratic Parties in northern N.J., which provide tremendous resources in terms of volunteers, and their political connections, headquarters, and understanding of each local situation.
In past elections, county-level party endorsements have also come with a top spot on the ballot, but a recently passed reform removed that advantage from the equation for the first time.
Despite the challenges of a crowded field, lack of Democratic Party support, and having the least amount of money in the race, the strong support for Baraka at the polls showed “his platform and vision must be taken seriously,” Make the Road N.J. organizer Jenny Llugcha said in an email sent after the election.
Baraka’s campaign unapologetically offered a strongly pro-working-class, pro-affirmative action, and pro-immigrant program with a proven track record of effective progressive governance in Newark. He emphasized the importance of desegregating New Jersey’s schools and fighting the racial wealth gap. Key among his policy proposals was the creation of a public bank to bring needed investment into distressed communities and to help bring down the cost of housing.
“What came to light was how powerfully Baraka’s vision—a $21 minimum wage, a statewide rent cap, healthcare for all, and a progressive tax system that ensures that the wealthy pay their fair share—resonated with New Jersey voters,” Llugcha summarized. Baraka was also the only candidate to have called early for a ceasefire in Gaza, and has strongly defended the free speech rights of justice for Palestine activists. And he was the only one actively fighting Delaney Hall, a privately owned ICE detention center illegally operating in Newark.
Besides Make the Road N.J., Baraka was backed by 32BJ, Workers United LDFS, Rutgers University’s faculty and adjunct unions, Working Families Party, Emgage Action, N.J. Tenants’ Organization, People’s Organization for Progress, Black faith leaders, Citizen Action NJ, Piscataway Progressive Democrats, Mercer County Democratic Progressive Caucus, and others.
Immigration, the cost of housing, groceries, and healthcare, education, public transit, and taxes were among the top issues in the race. Only Baraka highlighted the issue of racism as critical to all of them.
Candidate spending
Last week’s historic turnout was matched by a historic price tag. The six Democratic candidates in the race spent a combined $122 million vying for the party’s nomination.
NJEA President Sean Spiller spent the most, though none of his money came from big business. Roughly $37.5 million came from the union-funded Working New Jersey PAC, in addition to the $342,059 spent directly by his campaign. Unfortunately, his campaign, largely fueled by mountains of mailers, mainly drew voters away from Baraka, as did Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, who presented himself as a progressive.
The next largest spenders were House Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Mayor Fulop.
Gottheimer spent nearly $19.5 million, including $11.6 million from his “Affordable New Jersey” PAC. AIPAC and Blackstone Group have been among the top contributors to his Congressional campaigns.
N.J.’s most right-wing Democrat in the House, Gottheimer, voted in favor of the fascist Laken Riley Act. Gottheimer also refused to support the Immigrant Trust Act, a main demand of Make the Road NJ and NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice, the state’s largest immigrant rights coalition. Unfortunately, so did Mikie Sherrill.
Fulop spent over $16 million. More than $7.4 million of that came from PACs supporting him, especially his Coalition for Progress PAC, which has received over $6.8 million in real estate money over the years. He ran as a progressive anti-establishment candidate, a tack he also took in his race against Mayor Healy in 2013. (Oddly, he also championed his decision to enlist as a Marine in Bush’s Iraq War.)
But many in Jersey City know the real Fulop as a friend of developers, mainly interested in luxury towers and shopping in the downtown area. Fulop has refused to enforce rent control or implement police reforms demanded by the family of Andrew Washington, who was shot by Jersey City officers while going through a mental health crisis. Instead, Fulop said the cops were “justified” in killing him.
House Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s campaign spent close to $12.3 million, $3.8 million of that from her One Giant Leap PAC. Much of the latter came from the financial industries.
Former State Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney, endorsed by six of the eight county machines in the southern part of the state, had more than $11.5 million to spend, including $4.3 million from his Building Bridges Voter Project PAC. His PAC’s dollars came from craft unions, building trades, and contractors.
Baraka’s campaign spent a little over $6 million and had no major outside PAC support. His average donation was $933, compared with Spiller’s $595; Sherrill’s $1,103; Sweeney’s $1,792; Fulop’s $2,085, and Gottheimer’s $2,491.
“Electability” used to take focus off issues
Anxieties about the general election were used to take the focus off the issues and push the electorate to the right. After Baraka’s illegal arrest by ICE, NBC reported on May 12 that Democratic operatives were concerned Baraka was “too liberal” for the state’s “moderate voters.”
In early June, they reported Democratic leaders thought Sherrill was “the most electable candidate,” because she won a Republican-held House seat in Morris County, though it is not representative of the state. The big business media outlet quoted anonymous and allegedly “far left”–aligned voters saying “it’s going to take a centrist to win,” even citing Sherrill’s prior Blue Dog affiliation as an asset. “We definitely need someone who can beat whoever is on the Republican side,” the first person in a video shared by Sherrill’s campaign said. NJ.com ran a story saying Republicans saw Baraka as the “easiest candidate to beat.”
“Our campaign is different than any of the other five Democrats running for governor as we’re about solutions—not platitudes,” Fulop posted on X on May 14.
“I just don’t think [Baraka] is the right fit for a governor,” a YouTube video he shared on X a couple of weeks later opined. “Energy, passion, and activism … works well in a city like Newark,” but “getting sh*t done … takes more than speeches and slogans. We need someone focused on policy.” Fulop’s platform, by contrast, was hailed as “detailed and serious.”
In fact, Baraka outlined many detailed policy proposals, and over time, other candidates began to adopt some of his positions. “Keep these people off my website,” he joked at the last debate.
“Platitudes didn’t help us reduce violence by 61%,” the Newark Mayor fought back at a Jersey City rally on the last Saturday before election day. “Platitudes didn’t help us balance a budget with a $93 million hole,” or “get us to change 23,000 lead service lines. Platitudes didn’t create the guaranteed income program in the city of Newark,” he said, or “take people’s section 8 vouchers and turn them into mortgages. Platitudes didn’t create a land bank” and “inclusionary zoning, … didn’t create the Office of Violence Prevention, … didn’t create Brick City Peace Collective, … didn’t raise people’s salaries to $40,000, … didn’t raise the minimum wage,” or “reduce street homelessness by 57%.”
Progressive voters split
Jersey City Mayor Fulop, trying to occupy the progressive line, closed out the last debate by saying an “establishment” candidate would be “dead on arrival” in the general election. But his criticisms of the “machine” rarely identified the role of money in politics. He mainly emphasized environmental and transit issues.
Fulop also supported and met personally, in a mentoring style, with many down-ballot candidates across the state who were running against the party-endorsed candidates. A number of those were also supported by the Working Families Party. Jersey City activists have noted that showing up to every community event he could find was similarly important to his first Mayoral run. It didn’t translate, however, into sustained concern for those communities once in office. But this approach was convincing to many South Jersey candidates, who returned the favor with endorsements and supportive field operations.
In Jersey City, where Fulop was better known, most of those who were privately supporting Baraka, including some self-described socialists, kept quiet on the Governor’s race rather than use their own campaigns’ platforms and field operations to help him win. This was true even of those who attended Working Families Party events with the Newark Mayor.
The only Council candidate who endorsed
Out of all the candidates running for City Council, Mayor, and N.J. Assembly in Jersey City, only Councilmember Frank Gilmore, who is African American, publicly endorsed, shared resources, and put in work for Baraka. The same problem persisted throughout the state; not a single white candidate or elected official publicly endorsed Baraka, though certainly many were individually in support of his campaign.
Election day showed that this timidity was a mistake. Though Fulop’s operation was enough to help split the progressive vote, the majority of those who went to the polls didn’t buy what he was selling.
The “serious” progressive came in third place after Baraka’s second position—statewide and in North Jersey. Fulop was the only candidate who didn’t win a single county, and he came in second-to-last in South Jersey. He barely won his own city—36.4% to Baraka’s 34.4%. By contrast, 73% of Democratic Newarkers wanted their Mayor in the Governor’s seat.
Spiller, the only other person of color in the race, is a teacher, a union leader, and an immigrant, who emphasized working-class and equality issues, and absorbed over 10% of the vote. Many teachers hoped he could restore the teachers’ pension fund, decimated by former Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
Spiller did especially well in the southern part of the state, where Baraka’s campaign was not able to organize a strong voter turnout. Still, both Spiller and Baraka each came ahead of Fulop in South Jersey, though they were in third and fourth place overall in those counties. Sherrill and Sweeney—with his southern county party endorsements—were the top performers there.
What now?
The numbers show the majority of Democrats “want the party to go in a different direction,” Baraka told NJ Spotlight News on election night. “Hopefully, they don’t use this as an excuse to be more moderate.”
Mikie Sherrill has not yet selected a Lieutenant Governor, which is not an elected position in New Jersey. Although in the immediate aftermath of the election, Baraka said he wouldn’t want the position, reports have since suggested he might consider it, potentially helping to advance the platform he put forward.
“What we’re facing is dangerous, and ugly, and terrible,” he spoke to his supporters on election night, referring to Trump and MAGA. “We have to make sure that Ciattarelli does not win.”
While Baraka’s campaign is over, the issues that were highlighted in the race are still here, and the fight is just getting started. The struggle around Delaney Hall and the need for a mass campaign to defend Rep. LaMonica McIver remains. The fight to pass the Immigrant Trust Act continues. These and other issues have to be taken into the fight to defend the people of New Jersey from a MAGA Governor.
“We have to keep fighting and pushing for working-class families,” Baraka said on election night. “We need to make sure that we increase the minimum wage, and we actually make good on building affordable housing. We need to reduce healthcare costs and fight for a single payer system, and “end inequity — healthcare inequity, economic inequity, housing inequity, and [we need to] desegregate these schools immediately.”
“Moderate Democrats are not going to get that done. We have to get it done, collectively.”
As with all news-analysis and op-ed articles published by People’s World, the views reflected here are those of the author.
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