A tale of unintended consequences
New Jersey is a state that likes to do things a little bit differently. In addition to being one of two states that elects its Governor in odd years, we have — actually had — a special ballot design called the “County Line”. Tuesday evening’s result shows that while the line is physically gone from the ballot, the spirit of the line is alive and well.
If you already know about the county line, skip to the next part.
To fully understand the circumstances, you have to embrace the historical county-oriented approach of New Jersey elections. At one point in time, our legislative apportionment was based on the 21 counties, but over time that changed and now county government all but disappears in the background.
Primary elections were one place where county government — or the politics behind it — popped up. Party chairs were given the power to endorse their slate of candidates from federal to local office and place them in a line on the election ballot. Critics argued that this gave preferential treatment and the case ended up federal court where the line was broken down.
Pick up here if you’re well-versed in Jersey politics and know about the line.
While the idea of eliminating the line sounds good and more fair, here are four big consequences that many voters may not have seen coming.
- Expensive campaigns — this election cost a lot of money. And for candidates running without formal party support (or the support of any major groups and coalitions) it was impossible to keep up. Northern New Jersey lies in the most expensive media market in the nation. More candidates scrambling for attention means that media rates have skyrocketed even higher, which could deter candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds from running in the future.
- No clear pathway — everybody everywhere has been flailing around for the past four months. Those on the inside and those looking in have been uncertain as to what direction to head. Aside from the Governor’s race, the results seem to indicate that unless you are a candidate raising dollar-for-dollar with your opposition, you cannot be a serious contender. This should lead to more self-reflection and candidates considering their motivations prior to running. (And running to help prop up a candidate at the top of the ticket isn’t a good motivation.)
- Vitriolic malcontents — bad behavior was on full display in the days leading up to Election Day. It seemed like anybody who ever thought that they had been wronged by Democratic politics in some way was given free rein to bash others. This wasn’t helpful. This wasn’t productive. This wasn’t nice.
- Even more disorganization for Democrats — Washington is on fire right now, and instead of focusing energy in productive ways, we spent over $100 million on primary races. This is money that could go towards taking back Congressional seats next year. Instead, we blew a lot of it on outcomes that were predictable. Moving forward, we need to be more intentional with how we spend resources, focusing money on campaigns that are going to help us achieve policy victories — not feed personal ambitions.
4 Garden State Primary Takeaways was originally published in Thoughts? for Jersey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.