Tedeschi: The line may have disappeared, but organization still matters

OPINION

Rebecca Bennett’s victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election in Congressional District 7 demonstrates the continuing value of party organizations, even in a post-county-line era.

Until recently, candidates who secured the backing of county organizations received a coveted advantage on the primary ballot. The county line grouped endorsed candidates together in a single row or column, providing voters with a visual cue about the party’s preferred slate.

That changed in 2024 when a lawsuit brought by then-U.S. Senate candidate Andy Kim resulted in the elimination of the line and the preferred ballot placement that came with it.

Many observers believed the change would dramatically reduce the influence of county party organizations. While the ballot itself changed, the results of recent elections suggest that having a well-run county organization backing a candidate still matters.

In Union County, the municipal Democratic chairs and the county chair, Senate President Nick Scutari, continue to meet before primary elections to determine which candidates will receive the Regular Democratic Organization of Union County slogan.

Prior to those meetings, our local Democratic committees also engage in the work of evaluating candidates and building support for those they believe are best positioned to win.

In Westfield, our committee members had the opportunity to meet individually with the candidates in the gubernatorial contest last year and the congressional race this year. In addition, our committee members do their own research on the candidates, religiously reading publications like NJGlobe and regularly checking private Facebook groups like Westfield20/20, OneNJ7 and JerseyforDemocrats, where articles and opinions are shared and vigorously debated.

This year, after our candidate screenings, our committee met, spending two hours discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each Congressional candidate, including policy positions, fundraising ability and electability.

Our committee members then cast private votes using a ranked-choice voting system. The results of that process informed the position I took when participating in county-level endorsement discussions.

Some may view this process as an antiquated relic of a bygone political era. But in an age of increasingly crowded primary elections, it continues to serve an important purpose.

Most voters do not have the time to attend candidate forums, review fundraising reports or interview candidates. Committee members and local party leaders do. Their endorsements provide voters with a signal about which candidate they believe is most capable of campaigning, winning and governing.

Voters are under no obligation to follow the recommendation, and many choose not to. But endorsements remain relevant in primaries because they reflect the collective judgment of the people who have spent considerable time evaluating the field.

Over the two primary election cycles, Westfield Democrats endorsed Mikie Sherrill for governor and Bennett for Congress. Sherrill and Bennett also received the backing of Union County’s Regular Democratic Organization.

The county endorsement matters because it provides something far more valuable than ballot placement — campaign infrastructure.

Working with the Union County Democratic Committee allowed our local committee to magnify its impact in Westfield. The county organization provides resources that smaller municipal committees like ours simply cannot replicate on their own, including voter data, campaign technology, fundraising support, field operations and experienced staff.

Perhaps most importantly, the county organization provides expertise in NJVAN, the voter database that has become indispensable to modern campaigns in the state. Throughout the last two primary election cycles, Union County Democratic Committee field staff were in Westfield nearly every weekend working with our local organization to organize canvasses that helped our volunteers connect directly with voters.

Those voter-to-voter conversations proved especially valuable during the closing weeks of this year’s congressional primary, when Bennett faced a barrage of negative advertising. By knocking on doors and engaging voters directly, volunteers were able to answer questions, provide context and ensure that voters had information beyond what arrived in their mailboxes or appeared on social media.

The results of that work were evident, especially in Westfield, where both Sherrill and Bennett outperformed their overall totals.

In 2025, Westfield delivered 43% of its primary vote to Sherrill, who defeated Steve Fulop in the town, despite Fulop receiving support from several elected officials. Sherrill went on to win the statewide Democratic primary with 34% of the vote.

This year, Rebecca Bennett received 55% of the vote in Westfield, defeating three candidates, including two who called the town home. Bennett went on to win the districtwide primary with 45% of the vote.

Of course, no endorsement guarantees victory. Candidates must still raise money, communicate a compelling message and connect with voters. But the recent results in Union County demonstrate that strong organizations continue to play an important role in helping candidates build winning primary campaigns.

The elimination of the county line fundamentally changed New Jersey politics. What it did not diminish was the value of local committees, county organizations and the hundreds of volunteers connected to these organizations who knock on doors, make phone calls and engage voters. That kind of infrastructure, built over years, is difficult for an upstart campaign to replicate on its own in the short span of an election cycle.

While line may be gone, the importance of the organization remains.

Bruno Tedeschi is chair of the Westfield Democratic Committee.