Primary Fight in South Jersey Exposes Rift in Democratic Party

Democrats in South Jersey are facing a dilemma playing out all over the country: should they back a progressive who speaks to the values of the party or go with the candidate who can potentially win back conservatives and independents who voted for Donald Trump?

In a primary fight in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional district, progressive Tanzie Youngblood is facing off against State Senator Jeff Van Drew, one of the most conservative Democrats in the legislature.

Youngblood is a retired teacher who decided to get involved in politics after the election of Donald Trump. She is pro-choice, anti-gun,  and she supports funding for health and education.

“I am running because I am tired of living in a district where four major counties are falling in the bottom of in terms of well being, economics education and health,” Youngblood said.

National Democrats saw promise in her and she attended a workshop with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Then the Republican incumbent of 24 years, Frank LoBiondo, decided not to run. Van Drew jumped into the race. He represents one of the more conservative areas of the Congressional district. Van Drew voted against gay marriage, as well as raising the minimum wage,  and he has a 100 percent rating from the NRA.

“I do believe in second amendment rights,” he told NJTV in 2013.  “I believe it's constitutional, I think it dates back to the founding of this country. And I believe that the folks who legally own guns are good, honest and gentle citizens who aren’t bothering anybody.”

Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University, believes that if Democrats want to flip control of the House of Representatives, they need candidates like Van Drew.

“Not every district is filled with progressive voices,” Dworkin said. “You have some places where Democrats are going to have to win in order to get the majority where they're pretty conservative, where there are a lot of gun owners.”

The 2nd district spans a large swath of southern New Jersey that is mostly rural. But Youngblood disagrees that it is too conservative for her.

“Nothing can be further from the truth,” Youngblood said. The Congressional district went for Obama twice, and Trump in 2016. Thirty percent of registered voters there are Democrats, 26 percent are Republicans and 42 percent are unaffiliated.

”The people in South Jersey are not conservative,  the people in South Jersey want change. Those same Trump voters are going to be the ones to vote for me — you watch,” Youngblood said, breaking into a laugh.  

She has the support of local activists, who are primarily women and have been fighting to flip the house majority to the Democrats ever since the Trump election.

But Van Drew has the support of George Norcross, the Camden County power broker who runs the most powerful political machine in New Jersey. That provides Van Drew with money to blanket the airwaves with ads. Also, Norcross delivered the endorsement of every county Democratic Committee in the district, which means voters will see Van Drew’s name on the top line of the ballot. That convinced national Democrats to throw their weight behind him.

“The same day that he announced, he had all eight Democratic county lines — the Democratic party chair endorsements,” said Evan Lukaske, who is coordinating the midterm races in the northeast for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “I don’t think I’ve seen any candidate personally be able to replicate that show of strength when they announced their candidacy.”

The national party apparently missed the fact that county committees are made up of hundreds of people who are elected themselves, and are supposed to have a say in this endorsement. Norcross and  Van Drew declined to be interviewed for this story. 

In addition, the victory last week of Stacey Abrams, a black Democrat running for governor in Georgia, suggests the national Democratic Party may have the wrong playbook. Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University, says it’s wrong-headed for the party to spend millions trying to convince conservative white men to vote Democratic, instead of focusing on rallying black, Latino and young people to vote.

“Even when Democrats aren't that deserving, black women still over perform. We are party loyals,” Greer said. “You don't have to convince us to vote, we're already registered to vote. We're highly socially-networked people, right? Not just church and sororities but organizations.”

Some of those networks were on display at the Family Success Center in Bridgeton, N.J. during a meet-and-greet for Youngblood by the local chapter of the National Congress of 100 Black Women.

It was a small group, but they invited Youngblood to several different church services within the first 10 minutes of her arrival.

The event was organized by Viola Hughes, who ran a losing battle against incumbent Frank LoBiondo in 2006. Hughes said the Democratic Party doesn’t spend money reaching voters of color nor supporting black women as candidates.

“It's always been the good ole boy, the good ole boy and we've got to break that up,” Hughes said.

And now Tanzie Youngblood is feeling the same way — abandoned by the Democratic Party.

“It's disheartening because black women are the backbone of this party and I've always been a loyal Democrat, she said. "When I got in this I tried to get the support of the Democratic leadership. I thought they were looking for different candidates — candidates who were about change."

If ever there was a year when the candidate picked by the party bosses can be beat, it’s 2018. But it’s going to be tough. Mike Klein, who directs a public policy center at Stockton University, says Van Drew has strengths beyond being anointed by the political machine.

“You can’t go to an event and not see Jeff Van Drew. He’s everywhere, he’s at every pancake breakfast, he’s at every Chamber of Commerce event,” Klein said. “He’s an active campaigner and has been in office so long, I think that’s a large reason for the establishment part of the party really putting their support behind him.”

But this is a primary: only the party faithful usually come out to vote. And Youngblood has an ace in the hole: the Trump resistance movement is driving her candidacy.

“They are registering voters,  knocking doors — I'm telling you,  the resistance is strong and it's real down here in South Jersey. And I think it's going to be a lot of very surprised people on June 5th,” Youngblood said.