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New Jersey is one of the greatest states to be a political observer, which is why I'm glad that I live here. I figured it would be a great idea to let people know about our state politics through our legislature, which is why I decided to start writing this series. I want everyone to learn, including myself, what makes Jersey politics tick, as well as how Democrats and progressives can make gains here in the future. As you'll see, this is a state where the Democrats really have made quite a bit of progress, taking the legislature from a strong Republican majority to a 60-40 Democratic majority since the 1980s. Of course, there's also the issue of the underlying bossism in our political culture, a fascinating but unfortunate aspect of political life in the Garden State.
Before I get started, here is briefly how the legislature works. There are 40 legislative districts. Each district elects 1 Senator and 2 Assemblymen (so, 40 Senators, 80 Assemblymen). The Assembly and Senate candidates have the same districts, so it is incredibly common for all three elected officials from each district to be of the same party. Towns cannot be split, with the exception of Newark and Jersey City (which are bigger than a legislative district), which makes life a bit simpler and gerrymandering a bit harder at the state level.
Senators are elected in years ending with 1, 3 and 7. Assembly members are elected in every odd year.
In this part, we'll be looking at LD2, one of the "South Jersey Six" districts held by Democrats under the thumb of South Jersey Boss George Norcross III. District 2 may be the most competitive district in the state, and is one of the few districts where all three legislators do not come from the same party (we have two Democrats and a Republican).
Geography
This district takes in most of Atlantic County. The only major omission is Galloway Township. The population anchors here are Egg Harbor Township and the famous Atlantic City.
Atlantic County is historically Republican, as can be seen in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire". Recently, however, the city has become quite blue in Presidential years, owing to increased voter turnout in heavily Democratic Atlantic City and Pleasantville. These cities don't turn out in off years, which makes the county quite competitive at the state and county level (the ineffectiveness of Atlantic City's Democratic politicians doesn't help matters). The district itself is a bit bluer than the county as a whole as it doesn't include a few light-red exurbs, such as Galloway.
The Players
State Senator Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic City)
This is probably a Republican district without the presence of Jim Whelan. He has had some seriously impressive victories in his three runs for this seat. Never having faced a weak opponent, Whelan has won by at least 6 points in every election. He has had a long political career in Atlantic County, and you could probably consider him the Democratic Elder here, if not the Boss.
Whelan is a gym teacher with the AC school district, a position he's moved in and out of as he's taken on elected offices. He has a B.A. and M.Ed. from Temple. Whelan was first elected to the Atlantic City Council in 1981, and served for two terms before being elected Mayor. He served three terms in that role before being defeated by Lorenzo Langford. The city has since gone way downhill, and I was happy when Langford lost to Republican Don Guardian in last year's mayoral election. I'll get more into Langford and Whelan's feud below.
Whelan ran for the Assembly in 2005, and became the first Democrat elected from this district since 1993, and won by the biggest margin of any Democrat here since 1973. Two years later, the district's long-time Republican Senator retired, and Whelan defeated his appointed successor by 14%.
Whelan is an NJEA (teacher's union) member, and his record is typical of union Democrats in New Jersey. In fact, the police union endorsed him in 2013 over his opponent, the county sheriff. You could probably describe him as a Christiecrat, though like Jeff Van Drew in the last part of this series, he holds down a red district, so it's not as egregious as some of the others.
Atlantic County isn't quite in the grasp of the Norcross machine, but George does have influence. Like Van Drew in Cape May, I'd say Whelan is associated with, but not fully a part of, that machine. He chairs the State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee, as you'd probably expect of a former AC Mayor.
Assemblyman Chris Brown (R-Ventnor City)
Chris A. Brown (as opposed to Chris J. Brown in LD8) is a two term incumbent here, and seems to have begun entrenching himself quite nicely. He'll be the last Republican we look at for awhile.
Professionally, Brown is a lawyer who runs his own firm. Like many lawyers in New Jersey, he moved into the political ranks by becoming the municipal attorney for several Atlantic County towns. Before getting his law degree, Brown was in the Army, fighting in the Gulf War.
Brown is a moderate Republican and marriage equality supporter who recently got his 15 minutes in a public spat with Chris Christie. Brown claimed that the Governor and George Norcross had made a deal that Christie would not campaign against South Jersey Democrats in return for Norcross not forcefully opposing Christie. Christie later retorted that, "If I had a deal, I sure as hell wouldn't tell Chris Brown".
Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (D-Northfield)
Mazzeo is the district's newest Assemblyman, just elected last year over incumbent John Amodeo. He placed second behind Chris Brown, defeating Amodeo by just 40 votes (0.04% - the election was in question for quite awhile). Prior to his election, he served as the Mayor of Northfield, an inner-ring AC suburb, and on the city council. He owns B.F. Mazzeo, a grocery store.
Mazzeo's win prevented the Republicans from denting the Democrat's majority in the Assembly, neutralizing Sam Fiocchi's win in the 1st. These were the only two Assembly seats to switch hands last year. His narrow win means this district will continue to be swingy, at least on the Assembly level, in the near future. He really doesn't have enough of a record at this point to pick into, but I would assume Mazzeo is a moderate Democrat.
Political History
Assemblyman Bill Gormley won this seat in a 1982 special election, the same year Jim Whelan got on the AC Council (Gormley is just two years older than Whelan, quite young for a State Senator). He went on to serve seven terms, and became one of the state's most influential legislators in the modern era. His time in the legislature overlapped with Whelan's time as a councilman and Mayor, and they played key roles in bringing Atlantic City back from the brink. He was undoubtedly a pork-barrel Senator, but he was popular because of it.
Gormley is noted as a fierce politician who played the game well, but he could never quite achieve higher office. He lost primaries for Congress, Governor and the US Senate. One factor was that he was hated by the NRA, a grudge that apparently lasted for Gormley's entire tenure after his vote to ban assault weapons. All in all, he was a moderate, if bombastic, figure who had several accomplishments members of both parties could admire. He did not seek reelection in 2007.
He ran with several Assembly runningmates over the years, all but two of whom won each time. The most prominent of them was Francis Blee, who would be involved in this district's most pivotal moment after six terms in the Assembly. Gormley retired early, setting up an appointment process which Blee was expected to slide through (in New Jersey, legislative vacancies are filled by a vote of the party committee members from each voting precinct in the district). However, Blee was challenged by Egg Harbor Township Mayor Sonny McCullough. McCullough was the Mayor of the largest town in the district, while Blee had just been a councilman in the small town of Absecon prior to his election to the Assembly. Gormley backed Blee, while Congressman Frank LoBiondo backed McCullough.
Assemblyman Whelan was already running for Senate, and it was thought that he would crush McCollough (an old-school conservative), but be a tossup against Blee (a moderate in the vein of Gormley). The vote wasn't close; McCollough carried the party convention 97-61. Blee endorsed Whelan, who beat McCullough by 14%, as expected.
While Whelan won the Senate election convincingly, his runningmates were beaten by Linwood Councilman John Amodeo and municipal engineer Vince Polistina. Polistina would challenge Whelan in 2011, in what became the most expensive contest in NJ Senate history with about $3 million spent. Though this seat was considered the most likely of any to flip, Whelan would prevail by 6%. Amodeo was reelected to the Assembly along with municipal attorney Chris Brown.
That's not the whole story, though. The two-decades-long feud between Whelan and AC Mayor Langford extended into this year, with Langford threatening an independent challenge for State Senate. Obviously, this would have led to an easy Polistina victory even if Langford tanked. At this point, Langford was despised by both state parties, and the Democrats put heavy pressure on him to drop out, which he did in September.
Republicans targeted this seat again in 2013, recruiting Atlantic County Sheriff Frank Balles to run against Whelan. Balles was thought of as a very strong recruit, first elected Sheriff in 2008 by a healthy margin despite Obama's win. Also, as Sheriff, the entire district was in territory he'd run in before, albeit excluding a few red towns. Balles ended up running a weak campaign, punctuated by an off-color remark about pulling guns on Democratic canvassers. Whelan was reelected by 10%; Brown retained his Assembly seat, while Amodeo lost to Northfield Mayor Vince Mazzeo.
The Future
Though Atlantic County keeps getting bluer, turnout problems in AC and Pleasantville mean this district is going to continue to be competitive in the future (to illustrate just how bad the problem is, this is a 60% Obama district!)
On the Senate level, Jim Whelan will probably be Senator for as long as he likes. At 65, though, he's probably over the hump of his tenure. I'd imagine he'll run again in 2017, but beyond that, who knows. The problem is there's no clear successor to him yet, and the bench in the county isn't too strong, particularly because the Mayor of AC is now a Republican. Brown and Mazzeo (who are both around 50) may duke it out when the seat opens up, or Balles may give it another shot down the line. There are actually quite a few Republicans who could run a strong campaign here.
The Assembly seats will also continue to be competitive, but I think Brown and Mazzeo will prove to be solid incumbents. Brown really improved on his 2011 performance last year, and Mazzeo managed to take out an incumbent Republican despite Christie's coattails (which weren't long, but existed to an extent). Balles would be the best recruit for Republicans, but I have a feeling he would see an Assembly seat as a bit beneath his stature. The best bet for Democrats would probably be one of the Atlantic County Freeholders (county councilmen for out-of-staters) or a Democratic mayor.
Next time, we'll be looking at the politcally powerful LD3, home of Senate President and Norcross #2 Steve Sweeney.