Observations of Election Night

You’ll have to excuse my absence from the blog for most of yesterday, Save Jerseyans. I sincerely wanted to be here with you to bask in the glory of what occurred across this great nation. However, due to a few personal successes last night, I hardly got any sleep and used today to play catch up. Exit 3 Strategies, a firm run by myself and my good friend from Gloucester County, Randy Ford (and founded by your favorite Former Blogger Matt Rooney) came away with huge victories in Voorhees Township and Washington Township, despite being insanely outspent. Needless to say, there was quite a call for celebration.

The media highlight is of course Jon Runyan’s tremendous victory over the lying, cheating, loser that is John Adler. You could not turn on a cable news station without seeing Runyan’s face today. We here at Save Jersey were very attached to this race, as shown by our extensive coverage, so the victory was very sweet.

The GOP also did exceptionally well in Bergen County thanks to Donovan’s successes and that in Gloucester County, despite being outspent 5 to 1 by Sweeney and his goons, Larry Wallace and Vince Nestore came away with big wins in the Freeholder race.

The night also came with some disappointment. Despite cutting Frank Pallone’s usual 30 point margin down considerably, Anna Little could not best the long time Congressman. Scott Sipprelle, who looked for part of the night to be in the lead over Rush Holt, came very close to victory, but simply not close enough. While Dale Glading made considerable strides since 2008 in his struggle against Rob Andrews, it still was not enough. And  finally Roland Straten, well, you know. The obvious story line here is that incumbent advantage is alive and well in New Jersey congressional districts. With redistricting just around the corner, and the possibility of NJ losing a congressional seat all but certain, it will be interesting to see how that changes in the next cycle.

The biggest let down of the evening for me was certainly Goodwin’s loss in the 14th District special election. While 19 other states saw the GOP making very strong strides to power in state legislatures, New Jersey, even with our popular and outspoken governor, ended up losing ground. However, next year’s legislative races could have the potential to change the face of Trenton for years to come. With redistricting, Governor Christie’s clout continuing to climb, and a slew of local races becoming either more competitive or even turning red will all create an atmosphere good for the Republican party. 2010 was billed by the media as a Republican year, but I wouldn’t be so quick to claim that it ends now.

Thank you all for sticking with Save Jersey throughout the campaign season. We went through some growing pains with the transition to Save Jersey 2.0 in September, but as I and my colleagues continue to improve the blog, our readership continues to increase. We are very pleased with how things are going, and rest assured more will always be on the way. As we ramp up to the 2011 cycle, Save Jersey will be there, as always to provide you with New Jersey’s news and best conservative commentary online.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading back to my bed to continue recovering from last night.

Brian McGovern
About Brian McGovern 748 Articles
Brian McGovern wears many hats these days including Voorhees Township GOP Municipal Chairman, South Jersey attorney, and co-owner of the Republican campaign consulting firm Exit 3 Strategies, Inc.