FINAL WORDS Seventh in a series
As The Journal prepares to end publication Feb. 1, we take a final look back at important Hudson County issues, controversies and people.
Sending a senator’s son to congress. Allowing mayors to handpick assembly candidates with no prior political experience. Keeping mayors in office for decades.
For years, the Hudson County Democratic Organization’s bold electoral moves seemed to have no bounds. It moved like a predator at the top of the food chain, cheeky and unflinching, confident in the knowledge that not even the most passionate competitor really stood a chance.
The HCDO still wields enormous power, there’s no denying it, but its armor is rusting. Fractures among its members, the end of the “county line” ballot design and continued progressive pushback have threatened its stability and strength, and how well it will be able to retain its electoral power is growing increasingly uncertain.
With the closure of the newspaper Feb. 1, The Jersey Journal is taking a look at the future of politics in the county, which historically has been akin to a rock fight.
The next few years will likely continue to test the HCDO, bringing more competitive primary races and perhaps the first victories in county or state offices for candidates challenging the machine.
But even amidst all of the destabilizing forces, sources who have observed and studied the HCDO expect it to remain a formidable opponent for years to come.
“If you define control by patronage and ability to win elections and raise money for elections, I think they’re still in control, but I think similar to other organizations, it’s just a very different world,” said a source close to Hudson County politics who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They’re nowhere as close to as powerful or influential either in the county or statewide as they have been in the past.”
Hudson County started seeing a rise in competitive Democratic primaries during the first Trump presidency on the heels of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s shattering victory in New York.
The campaigns were grassroots and unsuccessful, but they gave residents frustrated with old machine politics an alternative. Over the years, a handful of formerly unknown names became repeat candidates.
There have also been candidates elected without the HCDO’s help and continuing to resist it. Whereas Jimmy Davis stunned the county when he was elected Bayonne mayor off the line in 2014 and was quickly welcomed into the HCDO, pols like Jersey City councilmembers James Solomon (2017) and Frank Gilmore (2021) first won as outsiders and refused to join the machine.
Then, last year, the line disappeared. The ballot configuration that the HCDO had used to its advantage was overturned.
“Losing the line for a party like the HCDO and the way the HCDO runs elections is more impactful than probably in any other Democratic county,” the political observer said.
The HCDO could never attribute its strength exclusively to the line. It is a powerhouse fund-raiser and members like Union City Mayor Brian Stack are machines at getting voters to show up to the polls, which is why sources say it still firmly holds control in the county.
But it is being tested like never before.
The HCDO’s hold is weakest in communities where the progressive movement has found strongholds like Jersey City and Hoboken. Those are the places to expect to see the first HCDO losses in county, state or even federal seats without the boost of the line, whether that is this year or beyond.
The Jersey City/Hoboken District 32 Assembly primary this year is already shaping up to be competitive (incumbent Jessica Ramirez, Ravi Bhalla and Katie Brennan), which alone is unusual. Hudson County assembly candidates are often hand-selected HCDO allies, plenty of whom have no prior experience in office ― or name recognition among voters ― but coast to victory on the line without a challenge.
None of the three have the support of the HCDO for now. Ramirez was one of those first-time HCDO candidates in her 2023 Assembly victory.
As for places like Union City, “we’re not there yet,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.
“Nobody organizes like Brian Stack organizes, so I think in the communities that have strong party leadership, it’s going to be hard to beat them in the short term,” he said.
While the progressive movement has established a strong base in certain parts of the county, how or where it grows will depend, in part, on how those drawn to it choose to spend their energy in the coming years, said Eleana Little, who ran against Craig Guy for county executive and is now running for Jersey City council in Ward E.
It is unclear what offices will be of greatest interest to potential candidates, she said, and how much energy progressively minded residents will want to devote to elections versus community building and mutual aid or other forms of activism.
“The national mood affects the amount of time and energy people are willing to devote locally as well,” said Little, hinting that the new Trump presidency could trigger local progressive engagement.
Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s well-funded congressional flop against to Rob Menendez and the HCDO last year showed that more than money is needed to succeed against the HCDO, Rasmussen said.
A formidable challenge would require coalition building, year-round effort, and a wide presence, almost mimicking the structure of the traditional political machine, he said.
But while the progressive movement appreciates coalition building, it has never wanted to replicate its opponent, Little said.
“The goal was never to just create a progressive alternative to the HCDO, the goal is to move away from machine politics altogether,” she said. “I think individual candidates will feel that they have a little more freedom without the line.”
Plus, the line was never the only aspect of elections that progressive groups saw as rigged and wanted reformed. They also want to see campaign finance reform so money has far less influence, for example, Little said.
Amidst progressive strides and the erosion of the line, the HCDO has also been at war with itself.
Stack now considers former allies enemies, including Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco, and is wielding his power and that of the HCDO to turn against them.
Former outsider Larry Wainstein has already received the endorsement of the HCDO’s North Hudson contingent in his Assembly race against Julio Marenco, a former North Bergen commissioner and friend to Sacco. The feud may also flare up in the sheriff’s race, where Sheriff Frank Schillari, who has won all his elections with the HCDO’s support, has entered the race apparently without it this time. His handful of endorsements include Fulop, Bhalla and Sacco.
Amidst the feuds, Hudson County is now in the peculiar situation of having one of its own mayors, Fulop, running for governor without the HCDO’s support. The local candidates who have aligned with him are also getting the cold shoulder from the HCDO.
Sources had a handful of theories about what a Gov. Fulop would mean for the HCDO.
It might try to cozy back up to Fulop if he wins, Rasmussen said, though given Fulop’s campaign message of being independent from machine politics, he may resist unilaterally embracing it.
Little appreciates the anti-machine messaging but knows for now it is still just campaign rhetoric.
“I think it’s an open question and it’s a fair question if he is elected governor whether he will truly continue to fight machine politics or whether he will just make nice and work with them and play by the machine politics playbook,” she said.
The HCDO has been eyeing an endorsement of either U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer or U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and if its candidate ultimately wins, the HCDO could benefit.
“Early support is remembered,” Rasmussen said.
But ultimately, the HCDO strategy isn’t nearly as clear cut as you would have imagined just a few years ago, when the plan would be as simple as supporting Hudson County’s candidate and expecting to be well rewarded should they ultimately win the general election.
And simultaneously, Fulop has sensed the appetite for fighting the very forces that he was a part of for years and has built a campaign around that sentiment.
“And that’s the kind of model that we’re talking about,” Rasmussen said, “to build your own. And if you’re not getting the county organization’s support, then to build something stronger than that.”