Moriarty holds competitive 4th district for Dems, defeating Del Borrello

Democrats have retained control of the highly competitive 4th legislative district, the New Jersey Globe projects, with Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D-Washington) winning a seat in the Senate and Monroe school board member Cody Miller and Gloucester Township Councilman Dan Hutchison prevailing in the race for two Assembly seats.

As of 12:08 a.m., Moriarty leads former Washington Township Councilman Chris Del Borrello 53%-44%, while Miller and Hutchison have a combined 52% of the vote against middle school teacher Amanda Esposito and former Buena Councilman Matt Walker.

The race really began on February 18, 2022, when the eleven members of the New Jersey Legislative Apportionment Commission approved a new legislative map that redrew the 4th district as a hyper-competitive seat that would have voted for Republican Jack Ciattarelli by nearly seven points in the 2021 gubernatorial election. No South Jersey Democrats served on the commission, and Central and North Jersey Democrats had no problems with making life harder for Democrats in Camden and Gloucester Counties.

As had long been anticipated, 4th district State Sen. Fred Madden (D-Washington) chose to retire this year, and he was joined by Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera (D-Gloucester Township). That allowed South Jersey Democrats to create an entirely new ticket with Moriarty, who has been in the Assembly for close to two decades, at its head.

Republicans, meanwhile, had to wade through a truly nasty primary to sort out their own slate. Initially, it looked like Gloucester County Commissioner Nick DeSilvio (R-Washington) would be the party’s choice, but Del Borrello got in the race after a dispute about the Assembly ticket; the district’s three county lines split, with the Gloucester GOP going for DeSilvio while Camden and Atlantic went for Del Borrello.

The two Senate candidates each hit each other with all they had: DeSilvio went after a sordid business affiliated with Del Borrello’s family, while Del Borrello slammed DeSilvio’s old social media posts. Ultimately, it was Del Borrello who easily came out on top, beating DeSilvio 62%-38%;  Del Borrello’s running mates, Walker and Esposito, won by a wide margin as well.

As it turns out, the primary proved to be a good preview of what the general election would look like. South Jersey Democrats spent gobs of money backing the 4th district Democratic ticket and attacking Del Borrello over his family business – and over the social media posts of State Sen. Ed Durr (R-Logan), a neighboring GOP state senator and an ally of DeSilvio.

Democrats also seemingly worked to boost two conservative independent candidates, Giuseppe Costanzo and Maureen Dukes-Penrose, to siphon away votes from Republicans. (The connections remain somewhat circumstantial for now; the person who circulated Costanzo’s and Dukes-Penrose’s petitions is the daughter of a local Democratic official, and the TV ads have come from Jersey Freedom, a new dark money group that has not disclosed its donors).

Unlike in other Democratic-held districts, though, Del Borrello wasn’t completely financially outgunned. He proved to be a strong fundraiser himself, and he and his running mates got a major boost in outside spending from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825, where Walker is on the executive board.

It evidently wasn’t enough, though, to overcome the longtime Democratic strength in the district. Moriarty’s win preserves a crucial part of the South Jersey Democratic legislative base, and he may be joined by other newly elected Democrats in neighboring districts as well.

The Democratic victory additionally protects an important part of South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross’s influence: senatorial courtesy. Had Del Borrello, a Camden County resident, won the 4th district seat, he’d have been able to block any and all of Norcross’s preferred nominees from Camden County; now that he’s lost, Democrats will retain full control over Camden nominations.

See all 2023 election results HERE.