Ho Hum Election – or Hanoi Redux?

All 120 seats in the Legislature are up on Tuesday, but this may be a ho-hum election given the fact so many average people know little about the state Senate and Assembly.

All 40 districts are roughly the same population wise, but that hardly means they’re equal.

For our purposes here, let’s look at two districts – two very different districts – and ruminate about what may happen.

For this analysis, one district is a no-brainer, the other is seen as non-competitive.

Ed Durr, or if you prefer, Ed the Trucker, earned fame two years ago by beating Steve Sweeney in LD-3 covering at least parts of Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.

It was one of those upsets that come along in a generation. It also is one of those upsets that can’t be duplicated.

John Burzichelli is the Democrat seeking to reclaim the Senate seat for his party. He is no unknown, having served as an Assemblyman for more than two decades The attention grabbing part of this race has focused on offensive social media comments Durr made three years ago about women and abortion.

This has galvanized former Senator Loretta Weinberg who appears in an anti-Durr ad.

This is bound to hurt Durr, but there are other issues.

As I watched Burzichelli at a town hall and a chamber of commerce appearance – both in Salem County – he made a good point about helping the district.

His spiel is that as an experienced Trenton hand, albeit two years removed, he remains well equipped to work the system to help his part of South Jersey.

Durr’s influence in that regard is limited by his status – a new senator in the minority.

Durr for his part remains what he has been – a strong down to earth conservative who is going to fight what he terms the liberal lunacy of Phil Murphy and his fellow travelers.

That may be enough.

Moving on, I admit it seems a bit odd but I think LD-25 is worth watching.

This is the home of Senate GOP leader Anthony M. Bucco.

Conventional wisdom suggests this is no contest – and it may not be one.

Democrats, however, suggest it’s competitive, chiefly because of abortion rights.

Bucco is pro-life.

Christine Clarke, the Democratic candidate, has been trumpeting her pro-choice views all campaign.

In the last few days, First Lady Tammy Murphy was in the district to help Clarke.

Just a few days before that, Clarke’s campaign got national attention when Jane Fonda endorsed her and even appeared on a Zoom call on Clarke’s behalf.

All this could turn out to mean nothing.

Maybe some Democrats are just having a little fun by talking up the possibility of upsetting the Republican leader.

Or maybe they know something.

In a low turnout election, it’s hard to say.

Bucco by the way is doing – and saying – what politicians have done and said for years.

He was visiting voters in Randolph Sunday afternoon and prior to that, was at a GOTV breakfast.

“I’m taking nothing for granted,” he said.

You may have heard that one before.

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