Stacey Berchenger and Terrence McDonald | October 21, 2019 | North Jersey Record |
New Jersey residents will vote Nov. 5 for 81 people to take a turn at tackling some of the state’s thorniest issues, from budget balancing to removing the threat of lead in water systems.
All 80 New Jersey Assembly races are on the ballot, plus one Senate seat in South Jersey. The campaign has thus far been a mostly lackluster affair, the consequence of an off-year race with state Assembly seats at the top of the ticket.
In addition to low turnout associated with elections where Assembly seats are the top draw, one expert attributes President Donald Trump’s sustained presence in headlines sucking up attention and the belief that Democrats will remain in control of the liberal Garden State for a seeming lack of voter interest.
“Democrats have a majority in the Assembly now, and they’re going to have a majority in the Assembly next session, too,” said John Weingart, associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. “One of the questions to be determined in the election is whether that majority is going to be a couple of seats bigger or a couple of seats smaller.”
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