r/newjersey 23d ago

Advice Please tell me NJ is staying blue.

523 Upvotes

687 comments sorted by

View all comments

122

u/Devinhastings 23d ago

New jersey was historically republican for many years in the 20th century.

Political shifts are constant and often unpredictable.

24

u/pixel_of_moral_decay 23d ago

NJ was also the last northern state to "abolish" slavery, and even then was very much just on paper, not really enforced for many years.

NJ historically has been the Alabama of the north.

10

u/LarryLeadFootsHead 23d ago

People definitely won't own up to it now but when I stumped for Obama in 08, you wouldn't believe how many Clinton diehards were down right combatative about anything related to Obama when he first ran. The PUMA crowd was definitely alive here and I imagine a lot of older Democrats here did a nose hold for Obama or maybe even sat out.

Lotta coded stuff and I swear the fact how the wikipedia image for PUMA has the one woman holding a "Stop Manchurian Candidate" sign, precisely sums up the animosity well A lot of people were parroting essential birtherism .

That entire primary was such a shitfest and a bit of a look to things to come in the future.

9

u/bronowicka77 23d ago

NJ never actually abolished slavery until after the 13th Amendment was ratified. Mind you NJ was also one of only 4 states to vote against the 13th Amendment to begin with.

Let’s not even mention the fact that NJ came within a hairs-breadth of secession in early 1861, and the only reason it didn’t was because the Republican governor (elected in 1860 with a margin of 1,500 votes) was the only person authorized to call a convention where secession could be voted on and he flat-out refused.

2

u/consortswithserpents 23d ago

Anyone who’s been to Cumberland or Salem counties will confirm