Are the Murphy Dems raising the white flag in South Jersey?

In case you missed it, Save Jerseyans, Steve Sweeney’s career spiral picked up momentum on Wednesday: Democratic State Chairman LeRoy Jones, Jr. filed a letter with the state secretary of state removing Sweeney from the legislative redistricting committee.

Sweeney’s removal isn’t a major surprise but it is major news. The former Senate President – deposed in epic fashion by Ed Durr in November – will be replaced by Laura Matos. She’s ethnically Hispanic (and Democrats are having a problem with Latino voters at the moment); more significantly for the purposes of our discussion, she’s also a creature of the Murphy/Cryan/Gopal wings of the Democrat family. Hailing from Belmar, Matos owes no allegiance to South Jersey, Sweeney, or George Norcross who recently relocated to Florida.

Jones’s letter could go down in state political history as “The Treaty of Durr.”

It’s a clear Democrat declaration surrender to the GOP in South Jersey (and for the purposes of this discussion I’m including most of the Jersey Shore in our definition of “South Jersey”).

This isn’t GOP spin, folks. Jones himself talked to NJ Spotlight last week and completely dismissed half of the state.

“That was a once in a lifetime phenomenon that ocurred during this past election,” said Jones, referring to 2021 Democrat losses below the Trenton-Monmouth line. “That was a lot of the disruption that came out of Washington, and I think you know. That area of the state is a Trump worshipping area of the state, and all of that culminated into the wins that the Republican Party enjoyed.”

Murphy and his allies are perfectly content being a party of wealthy, elite North Jersey suburbs and the densely-populated I-95 corridor (north of Exit 2). As for the rest of the state? Let it burn for all they care!

No, I’m not saying that South Jersey Republicans can declare mission accomplished. Far from it. The Camden organization is still strong, Burlington is pretty blue, and the upcoming battles to flip Gloucester and Cumberland counties will be fierce. I am saying that the tide has definitely turned, and North Jersey Dems seem little interested in helping their formerly mighty, notoriously heavy-handed brethren who’ve suddenly fallen on tough times.

They’re not sympathetic creatures on either side of the aisle.

Matt Rooney
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MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.