Yesterday I got the chance to go to a congressional forum hosted by the South Jersey Progressive Women for Change and Action United – both two very impressive and awesome progressive groups in New Jersey. I think that I have been seeing a strong swell from the progressive movement, specifically throughout South Jersey lately and I am interested to understand more about how this relates to obvious divides that exist between South and North Jersey.
While driving to the forum, I reminisced about growing up in southern Gloucester County and thinking about how much of South Jersey truly is “southern.” There’s plenty of open space and land (even a random tractor trailer slowly driving on the shoulder) – it’s definitely much more urban than what folks in metro areas like Camden are used to, and especially up North where much of the state’s hustle-and-bustle takes place. Steve is much more of an expert than I am on rural progressivism but I’m coming to realize a few things myself about how this kind of politicking plays out.
So Congressional District 2 in New Jersey is currently held by incumbent Republic Frank LoBiondo; the district is pretty heavily red as well (though it would be considered ‘purple’ because it’s a red district in a pretty blue state) and so this sets up an interesting political dynamic for such a rural area of New Jersey. Three major contenders have thrown their hat in the ring for this seat as they hope to flip the district to blue this November.
Running through my head during and after the debate were issues of connection with an audience, connection with a ‘blue’ audience, and connection with a progressive audience. I think that there are differences in all three, and despite the fact that there were close to 150 people in the room yesterday, I still think the progressive end of the spectrum has a lot of work in front of it before it becomes a credible competitor to the establishment Democratic system. Being a progressive in a blue area like Camden is one question I personally and politically struggle with all of the time; yesterday made that question much more intrusive to understand what it takes to be a progressive in a red area.
I am really hopeful and excited to see such a rise of progressivism throughout South Jersey and I’m even more excited to see some of those values running through to Trenton and even Washington. There’s still a lot of work ahead, but with the steady pace at which progressivism is moving, we have a lot to look forward to come November.
Jared Hunter is a current student at Rutgers-Camden pursuing his Masters in Public Administration in the community development track. His research focus includes disparities between marginalized communities and local governments as well as community development centers and anchor institutions.
Share it!
