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NJ 11th FOR CHANGE HAS
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After 2020 and our hard-won, excruciatingly slo-mo victory over Donald Trump, it’s hard to imagine ANY election ever feeling “high stakes” by comparison. 

I mean, we averted the end of the world, right? 

Not to mention… we’re all pretty wrung out and PTSD-ing. Seriously. As if 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 weren’t enough, 2020 was a DOOZY.

But here we are in 2021 — a little too comfy in our quarantine yoga pants and sweats, but so much more politically savvy than we were four years ago. We know the landscape, we’ve learned the how-to’s, we’ve built the networks. We’ve figured out VAN, for crying out loud, and all those text-banking apps! We’ve got our reps on speed-dial, and a lot of them know who we are and exactly why they should answer the phone when we call. We’ve built a strong foundation of grassroots civic power, and we know how to shift voters when we need to. 

And that’s a good thing, because the bad guys just keep coming. 

Jay Webber, Joe Pennachio, BettyLou DeCroce, Parker Space, Jack Ciattarelli … who’s next, Ming the Merciless?

Sure, you may think 2021 is a year to kick back. A year to get back to “normal.” And yet there is trouble afoot; that is the new normal. If we don’t stay alert and active, our good work will be undone before our eyes.

Here are the cold, hard facts about CD 11 voter turnout in the 2020 election:

The difference between Dems and Republicans was less than 3000 votes (less than 0.7% of total turnout!). That’s much, much too close for comfort, especially given that unaffiliated voters broke R more often than expected. And in 2021, we’re not going to have the specter of #45’s possible re-election to motivate our base and lure over some of theirs.

Making matters worse, every CD-11 county except Essex turned out more GOP voters than Dem! 

What does that mean? That means that in county races, state legislative races, and municipal races, we are at a sharp disadvantage — and we’re not safe in keeping the governor’s office, either. 

“Come on, now,” you may say. “We got rid of Trump. That’s the big thing. Plus, we’re tired, and there’s this thing on Netflix. What do all those rinky-dink state races matter, really?” 

What do they matter? 

• Ask blue voters in states that are restricting voter access how much their state legislatures and governorship matter.
  
  
• Ask women in states that are defunding reproductive care how much their state legislatures and governorship matter.
  
  
• Ask minority communities in states with dangerously racist law enforcement departments and with prison-pipeline penalties for adult use of marijuana.
  
  
• Ask taxpayers in states with unfair tax policies, cash-starved pension funds, and GOP-packed judicial systems.

Heck, ask New Jerseyans who still have battle-scars from the Chris Christie era how much it matters.

“[Governor Chris Christie] would rather jeopardize the well-being of the people who elected him to office in order to score points with the national conservative media,” said then-Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, in a 2011 article cataloging Christie’s gutting of our state.

Right now, our state government in Trenton is looking pretty damn good. We have a progressive governor and a legislature that is — more or less — willing to work with him. 

We’ve got …

• a new, more reasonable tax rate for those earning more than a million dollars a year.
• an increased minimum wage, with more increases to come.
• better funding for schools, despite the economic catastrophe of COVID-19.
• the first full payment into the state pension fund since 1996, with a plan to keep it up.
• a powerful piece of legislation in the works to protect women’s reproductive rights.
• new policies and agencies to reform discriminatory police practices.
• a state government that supports sensible gun-safety regulations.
• a wholehearted effort to make voting safe, secure, and accessible for ALL voters.
• a governor who is an unabashed fan of New Jersey!

AND he got 8/10 on Room Rater! 

Does Trenton need improvement? Sure. There’s always room for improvement. But letting the GOP, in the form of Chris Christie-esque, Trump-loving, anti-woman Jack Ciattarelli, take back the governor’s seat and letting our State General Assembly and State Senate turn red is DEFINITELY not “improvement.”

Ciattarelli with Christie in 2013.

The Republicans are going to be coming hard for every seat. In NJ 11th for Change territory alone, that’s twenty Assembly seats and ten State Senate seats — enough to shift the balance of power in Trenton, whether NJ overall re-elects Dem Phil Murphy for governor or not. 

In Morris County, Sussex County, and Passaic County, it is going to take hard work to flip red seats and hold blue seats.

But we’ve got this!

We know how to educate voters and mobilize those that align with us to get to the polls.

We know how to write postcards, make phone calls, send texts, and canvass.

There is work to be done, and as a team, we know how to do it. This spring, we are laying the groundwork. We are:

• activating our teams.
• registering new voters.
• scoping out candidates we’d like to support with our endorsements.
• identifying and doing opposition research on the candidates we need to fight tooth and nail.
• sifting through data so we can reach the right voters in the most important districts.

And we are fundraising, so we have the cash on hand necessary to:

• re-subscribe to VAN (Voter Access Network), which has the updated voter information we need.
• conduct text-banking, phonebanking, and postcard campaigns.
• Create educational walk-pieces for canvassing and door-to-door lit drops.

We are optimistic that vaccination rates will allow us to launch a vigorous — and socially-distanced — canvassing campaign this year!

For ALL of this, we need your help as an activist. Want to register new voters? Email us! Interested in doing “opposition research” on candidates running for State Assembly or State Senate in your legislative district (LD)? Sign up here! There will be more volunteer opportunities in months to come, but for the next few months, THIS is crucial work. 

And we need your financial support. All of these initiatives take money. For the 2020 election, we left it all on the field, using our bankroll to make 160,000 contacts with voters — and it swung races. We turned Morris County BLUE in the presidential, congressional, and senate races! We can’t lose that advantage. We need cash on hand to fund voter outreach in 2021. 

We urge you to donate what you can. 

Recurring contributions are the most useful, since they give us a reliable stream of income; click here if you’d like to give on a monthly basis. We are also deeply grateful for one-time gifts; click here if that is your preference. Any amount is welcome, though of course we’re suckers for anything with an “11” (or multiples thereof) in it! 

And did we mention?? We've got thank-you gifts!

Donations of at least $5/month (recurring) or $50 (one-time) will entitle you to the MUST-HAVE MASK for the spring 2021 season!

COVID-safe canvassing uniforms.

Together, we can make 2021 as big a triumph as 2020!

Please join us for this exciting year!

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NJ 11^th for Change is a 501(c)(4) unaffiliated organization dedicated to advocating for all people of New Jersey’s 11^th Congressional District. We foster an engaged and informed community with the power to shape our political representation so that it is transparent, responsive and accountable—and so that it reflects the values of fairness, compassion, inclusivity and a decent quality of life.