Senator-Elect Brown Makes History and Other Post Election Analysis
By HARRY HURLEY
Political Columnist
New Jersey Senator-elect Chris Brown made history on Nov. 7. He was the only candidate in America to flip a previously held Democratic state legislative seat to Republican.
This gives you an idea of the length and breadth of what was nothing short of a Democratic wave election. There were state-wide races in New Jersey, Virginia and Maine, along with other special elections around the country.
Brown will succeed the late Senator Jim Whelan in January 2018 and will serve a four-year term for the first time in in his state legislative career. Brown had won three consecutive times for a 2nd District Assembly seat.
The Democratic nominee Colin Bell lost by nearly double-digits to Brown. Brown won at the voting machines and the vote by mail ballots. For Bell, it’s three strikes and you’re out. Bell has now lost three times in-a-row: Freeholder, Assembly and now the Senate.
Brown defined his opponent early on and he never took his foot off of the gas pedal. Bell couldn’t effectively respond to the Brown attack about his property tax lien business. Brown drove Bell’s negatives to a substantial multi-double-digit percentage.
Even on General Election day, Bell was only known by about 40 percent of the voters in District 2. His negatives were more than 20 percent.
In Cape May County, the popular Democratic Senator Jeff Van Drew won re-election, earning 65 percent of the vote, a nearly super natural in our divided times.
Van Drew granted a “Hurley in the Morning” exclusive on-air interview on Thursday, Nov. 9, where he all but declared his candidacy for the 2nd District United States Congressional seat.
Van Drew has already received one of the most important endorsements for the candidate who wants to ultimately be successful. South Jersey Democratic Power Potentate, George Norcross, III has already publicly confirmed his support for Van Drew’s candidacy. Van Drew will be very difficult to beat for both Democratic and Republican challengers.
Several no name Democrats with nearly no name recognition in Atlantic County whatsoever also won in the at large races. Caren Fitzpatrick for Freeholder, Eric Scheffler for Sheriff. Democrat Ashley Bennett won the race for Freeholder in District 3.
A footnote regarding Bennett’s win over incumbent John Carman. Even in a big Democratic year, this was a very safe Republican seat, however, Carman’s Facebook social media meme post proved to be fatal. It was seen as sexist and degrading to women.
There is no doubt that a number of women voters disqualified Carman over the meme. The local, metro and national media went full blown market saturation coverage, attacking Carman at a visceral level.
By comparison, during this same election season, New Jersey Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo posted on the same social network a highly offensive video, with an invented caption “Illegal Immigrants Training for the Trump Wall,” showing men of ethnic decent running up the wall with ladders.
Mazzeo did not receive any national media attention and barely faced any local media market criticism. The biased local daily newspaper did one article, with nowhere near the same intensity as their relentless Carman prosecution. The same newspaper did repeated articles criticizing Carman.
The local daily let Mazzeo get away with pleading, “The Mr. Magoo Defense.” Mazzeo blamed his poor eye sight. The process of sharing the post required Mazzeo to make multiple steps. You can’t do it by mistake. It turned out to be no problem for Mazzeo. A double-standard was in raging effect.
Mazzeo’s insensitive post was just as bad as Carman’s because he purposefully painted all Hispanics as illegal immigrants. The local daily also took the opportunity in the one and only Mazzeo article to entirely restate Carman’s issue. A dirty trick that unprofessional members of the media do to help the person they want by deflecting attention to someone else.
Add to this, Carman’s Confederate Flag patch on his American Legion motorcycle riding jacket late in the campaign and it was simply too much for him to overcome. The same biased media used the second issue to entirely bring back the first. It was devastating to Carman’s candidacy.
Special recognition goes out to Atlantic City Mayor-elect Frank Gilliam, Jr. He defeated a popular and viable incumbent at both the polls (by 79 votes) and Gilliam dominated the vote by mail ballots over Mayor Don Guardian by a margin of 1661 to 364.
Incumbents George Tibbitt, Mo Delgado and newcomer Jefree Fauntleory, II won the three Atlantic City Council at Large positions by a wide margin on the voting machines and the vote by mail ballots.
Fitzpatrick also has earned our over achievement award, as she finished as the high vote getter for Atlantic County Freeholder at Large.
The upcoming 2018 mid-term elections will be more interesting than ever, with an open seat in the 2nd Congressional District with the upcoming retirement of Frank LoBiondo. LoBiondo exclusively confirmed to me that he intends to serve the remaining 14 months of his term. His leaving early is not an option for those salivating to have a chance to grab his seat by appointment.
