On the eve of South Jersey and North Jersey coming together to make South Jersey ironworker Steve Sweeney of Gloucester County the senate president in 2009, the late North Jersey Powerbroker Steve Adubato said, “From the beginning of time, the North and South have been at odds. I say, let the North and South live in peace.”
A short time later, at an Essex County political soiree, Sweeney and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, a key Adubato ally, hugged each other and posed for a picture. “One New Jersey,” Sweeney proclaimed, just before he went on to clock the most years as senate president in New Jersey history, finally getting voted out of office in 2021.
Now, Sweeney seeks another throne of power, only the same forces up north that propelled him into the senate presidency this year support U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11) for governor.
Apparently, the mechanics that held together “one New Jersey” for Democrats – a combination of organizational dealmaking and Goldman Sachs iconography – no longer apply.
This week – and last – Sweeney singled out Sherrill as his target of choice in the six-person Democratic Primary for governor, exposing the deep, underlying fracture at the heart of this year’s statewide contest.
“Congresswoman Sherrill claims to be the only candidate in the race willing to stand up to Elon Musk’s reckless and dangerous actions that are ripping our country apart, all while holding onto his money and refusing to give it up until she faced criticism,” Sweeney said. “If she can’t stand up to Trump and Musk until she’s called out, how can New Jersey trust her to stand up for them?”
Tough talk.
But then, it’s New Jersey politics.
“You play rough, you get hurt.”
Or you hurt someone else.
Sherrill made clear her position on Musk, calling for inspectors general at eight federal agencies to open investigations into the billionaire and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) conflicts of interest.
“Elon Musk is not only the world’s richest man but also one of the federal government’s largest contractors — handing the keys of our government over to him reeks of corruption and vast conflicts of interest,” said Sherrill. “He is working to cut Social Security and Medicare, strip funding from our public schools, and fire the government employees who keep our food, roads, and skies safe — all while his own companies get sweetheart deals. I am calling on the independent watchdogs at eight of our federal agencies to investigate Musk and DOGE’s actions to ensure that an unelected billionaire cannot steal New Jersey families’ federal tax dollars to turn an even greater profit. The self-dealing must be put to an end.”
But Sweeney’s attack, launched as he simultaneously rolled out an ad doubling down on his working- class ties and priorities, made very clear the former senate president’s determination to shake up the north, that concentration of Democratic Party power he once depended on for backroom support, which moved on without him after over-the-road trucker Ed Durr shockingly toppled him during the last gubernatorial election dustup.
Durr, incidentally, trying to regain traction with his own gubernatorial run after getting tossed out of office in 2023, exited the Republican Primary for governor without much media fanfare. He threw an elbow at Sweeney on his way to the door. “Very sad @SteveSweeney_NJ that you are proud about the murdering of babies. Even most democrats [sic] are against abortion at 7, 8 & 9 months. #NJDeservesBetter #NoMoreDems” he tweeted. Even as Sweeney seeks to reestablish himself with his party, Durr’s now-you-see-him, now-you-don’t Star Trek Enterprise hologram presence over Sweeney’s shoulder underscores the reality of the senate president’s inescapable regional disadvantage.
That said – and herein lies Sweeney’s strategy – he has the backing of all of New Jersey’s South Jersey counties, a built-in statewide Building Trades base in precisely that part of the Democratic Party that feels abandoned, insider ties around New Jersey forged during his dozen-plus years as senate prez, and some kicked-in-the-teeth irritability on his side in the south, where getting roughed up for five years has made them more ornery not less. He trusts in the fracturing of North Jersey between U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (Bergen) and Sherrill (Essex, with Hudson, organizationally supportive of the congresswoman, further complicated by the pretty squared-away candidacy of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. Then, of course, there’s Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who takes votes away from Sherrill, who also resides in Democratic Party behemoth Essex County.
Finally, the real question is whether the North, which made itself South Jersey’s tool in the early part of the millennium by ejecting its own, Essex-based Senate President Dick Codey (D-27) in favor of a deal that gave South Jersey the power projection platform of the senate with Sweeney and awarded Essex the consolation prize of the speakership, actually understands its chance to exert the power advantage it enjoys over the South as a consequence of real numbers.
Will the North – and more precisely those engines of organization that for years ceded power to statewide candidates from Wall Street in the interest of avoiding a fight – allow itself to get entangled in the punji traps of its own complexity and circular firing squads or indeed meet South Jersey in the center of the ring and exert the knockout power it possesses?
Back in the 1980s there was a TV miniseries called “North and South,” about a civil war fought in this country, all but forgotten now by a sizeable portion of the population, at least by the looks of the pre 1859 theatrics of presidential politics. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe it was simply diabolically never forgotten. The governor’s race lacks that level of tragic drama – at least during the primary season (stay tuned!) – but the dichotomy identified by Steve Adubato all those years ago stands starkly in a fight Sweeney looks willing to have – indeed, that he has to have – with a Goliath reluctant for years, ever since it wounded itself by getting rid of Codey – to swing its mighty club.
The post The North and the South: Sweeney Picks Fight with Sherrill appeared first on Insider NJ.
(GALLOWAY, NJ) — Inspired by his father’s profound impact on Latin music, Tito Puente Jr. and his jazz ensemble will make a tour stop at Stockton University’s Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Showtime is 7:30pm.
