New Jersey is ready for change

New Jersey is ready for change

“People in NJ-11 are pumped. Almost every door I knock on people offer me water and thank me for doing what I’m doing,” says Nick Haughwout-Dye, a Progressive Turnout Project Field Representative in New Jersey’s 11th congressional district.
NJ-11 is located in northern central New Jersey, close enough to Manhattan that thousands of constituents are daily commuters. Described by The Cook Political Report as “heavily white-collar,” the district went to Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but only by a very small margin: Trump won 48.8% of the vote compared to Hillary Clinton’s 47.9%. Overall Clinton won New Jersey by 14 percentage points.

Nick Haughwout-Dye and a voter in NJ-11.

According to Nick, “A win in NJ-11 would mean a Democratic Representative in a mostly Democratic District that hasn’t flipped Blue since 1984. People in this District haven’t had real representation in 34 years.” 
Not only has NJ-11 been Red for a stretch, it’s been a very specific shade of Red –  one you might call Rodney Frelinghuysen Red. Frelinghuysen, a Republican, was first elected to the seat during the first Bill Clinton administration in 1994. Perhaps it goes without saying that his retirement, announced in January, is long overdue.
Fighting for this long-red seat is Republican State Assemblyman Jay Webber and Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor and Navy pilot.
Webber’s priorities are “jobs, economic prosperity, and tax relief.” His campaign website reveals typically conservative views on women’s rights – what rights? – and frames abortion as a matter of “protecting the innocent.” Equally cryptic is the Republican’s stance on gun reform. Nowhere do the words “gun” or “firearm” appear in his discussion of the issues; rather, Webber hides behind language that assures voters he will fight for their “Constitutional Rights.”
Sherrill’s stance on the issues is frank and transparent. To start with, she is committed to national security and believes that diplomacy is the best means of keeping our country safe. At the same time, she is clear in her commitment to defeating ISIS and believes the US “must work hard to contain threats posed by North Korea and Iran” – a perspective that has likely won her the support of some moderate Republicans in the District.
Other issues of special importance to the Sherrill campaign include addressing the opioid epidemic and addiction crisis facing our nation, preventing gun violence, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and supporting tax relief and women’s rights.
“I honestly couldn’t imagine a better candidate,” says Nick, who admits his dream job is to work as a Staffer in Sherrill’s Congressional District Office. If the first step toward fulfilling this dream is getting Sherrill elected, then Nick is well on his way.
In June, The Cook Political Report updated its rating of the race from Toss Up to Lean Democratic, and FiveThirtyEight Politics has reported the results of five separate polls since June, all of which heavily favor Sherrill.
“I want to walk away from this job knowing that I did everything humanly possible to get this Democrat elected,” says Nick. “When people look back on this period in twenty, thirty, forty years from now, I want to be able to say that I did my part.”