A Statewide Conservative Take on New Jersey’s Election: What Went Wrong
So, “What the hell happened?”
That was the name of an online program Tuesday night about …. Well, you can probably guess.
It was a discussion between Dan Cirucci, founder and editor-in-chief of an eponymous blog and host of The Advocates on RVN-TV, and Frank Pallotta of Bergen County, a former Republican candidate in CD-5.
Pallotta has lost two congressional races, but to get there, he had to win two GOP primaries – both times without party organization support.
That does give him some insight.
Cirucci is a south Jersey guy, so this discussion by two conservatives about the Nov. 4 election was truly statewide.
Pallotta began by talking about the last few days before the election, which now seems very long ago. Democrats, he said, were nervous. The prevailing wisdom was that Mikie Sherrill would win by 4 or 5 points, but that Jack Ciattarelli may sneak in.
Turns out that Sherrill won by 14 points or by about 450,000 votes, prompting Pallotta to say of the Democrats, “They were more surprised than we were.”
One perennial problem for Republicans, both said, is the failure to vote by mail. Democrats, as usual, won that battle 3-1, which gave them about a 300,000 vote lead going into Election Day.
Both men also agreed that the government shutdown hurt Republicans.
It’s true that the shutdown came about because both parties failed to compromise, but average voters are more apt to blame the president. That is, because he is the president after all.
Beyond that, there was dismay that Sherrill and the Democrats campaigned on the issue of “affordability.”
Sherrill blamed Donald Trump’s tariffs for rising prices and talked about freezing electric rates by executive order her first day in office.
The high cost of living in New Jersey is usually a Republican issue.
“They (Democrats) stole it right out of our teeth,” is how Cirucci put it.
In terms of messaging, both men agreed that the Ciattarelli campaign did not appeal well enough to Hispanics and women. Trump did well last year with Hispanics across the nation and in New Jersey, where he won Passaic County.
But this year, things turned around again and Hispanics were again a key Democratic voting bloc.
As for women, that always was a hard get for Republicans with a woman on the Democratic ticket.
Still, this raised a question – Why did Ciattarelli have the same campaign team he had in 2021?
Here is a logical answer, although it was not discussed.’
His campaign team four years ago did a good job by coming within 3 points of Phil Murphy in a very “blue” state.
Going forward, there was agreement that Republicans have to stop infighting.
Going forward, there was agreement that Republicans have to stop infighting.
Radio personality Bill Spadea, for instance, lost the primary to Ciattarelli and never endorsed him. In fact, he criticized him on his radio show.
It is such petty battles, they said, that hurt Republicans.
Democrats, of course, fight among themselves as well, but they are the majority party.
As the state’s minority party, it’s more important for Republicans to stop, as Cirucci said, the “internecine warfare.”
The point isn’t that intra-party disagreements should not be heard.
But there needs to be an acknowledgement of the bigger picture.
Pallotta said “put the grievances on the table” and talk about them. But then, move forward in unity.
By William Swanson, Special to The Central Observer