The New Jersey Globe 2023 Voter’s Guide

Click HERE to download a high-resolution version of the New Jersey Globe 2023 Voter’s Guide.

Click HERE for a lower-resolution version.

Two years ago, New Jersey Republicans shocked the political world, nearly unseating Gov. Phil Murphy and flipping a net seven legislative seats – one of them held by then-Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford).

Now it’s Murphy’s second midterm, and the shadow of the 2021 elections looms large. Republicans want to continue their momentum and flip even more legislative seats, giving them the most power in Trenton than they’ve had in years; Democrats, particularly South Jersey Democrats, see an opportunity to claw back lost territory and re-establish their dominance.

That has all culminated in an intense, expensive battle for New Jersey’s 40 Senate seats and 80 Assembly seats, all of which will be on voters’ ballots on November 7 (or have already appeared on the ballots of voters who chose to vote early or via mail-in ballot).

Republicans have honed in on a few carefully chosen issues such as parental rights in education, offshore wind, and high taxes, all of which have made Democrats in competitive districts quite nervous. The Democratic rebuttal has focused on abortion – a winning issue for the party since the fall of Roe v. Wade last summer – and the state’s new property tax relief programs.

Every race will be fought on a brand-new legislative map, one approved at the beginning of 2022 after an unprecedented compromise between Democrats and Republicans. The new map is partially responsible for a massive amount of turnover this year; fully one-quarter of the legislature is retiring or seeking another office.

That means that no matter what happens next Tuesday, the statehouse is going to look quite different come January 2024, with lots of potentially promising politicians getting their start in state politics.

The New Jersey Globe’s 2023 Voter’s Guide includes all of that and more – from the no-holds-barred general election contests in the highly competitive 4th and 11th districts to the quiet backroom Democratic maneuverings in Hudson County that happened nearly two years ago.

This voter’s guide aims to be a record of a hugely important election year that, under New Jersey’s steadily worsening media environment, has frequently gone under-covered. It also tries to predict what the results on November 7 will be, though as always, elections are rife with uncertainty, and every prediction is just one attempt at deducing what may happen.

Whether you’re a rock-ribbed Republican or a bleeding-heart Democrat; whether you’re a longtime New Jersey insider or a first-time voter; whether you live in the most competitive part of South Jersey or the deepest-blue district in Jersey City, we hope this voter’s guide helps you understand New Jersey politics in 2023.

Once again, click HERE to download a high-resolution version of the guide. (And reach out to [email protected] if you spot any mistakes.)