New Jersey Teachers Announce Endorsements For State Elections

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) gets a bad rap that they only endorse Democrats for state elective offices.

That’s not true. While it is true, that the vast majority of their endorsements do go to Democrats … They also endorse Republicans as well.

In fact, in the latest batch of endorsements, the NJEA has officially endorsed 25 Democrats and 10 Republicans.

Two of those Republicans are from New Jersey’s 2nd legislative district, located in Atlantic County.

Senator Vince Polistina, R-2 and Assemblyman Don Guardian have received this covered endorsement.

The NJEA did not endorse a second candidate in District 2, leaving incumbent Assemblywoman Claire Swift without the NJEA endorsement … yet, it is softened by the fact that the two Democrats running in District 2 also did not receive the remaining endorsement.

To date, the NJEA has endorsed a total of 96 candidates for state elective office in the upcoming November 7, 2023 General Election.

There are 80 seats up for election in the New Jersey General Assembly and 40 seats are up for election in the New Jersey State Senate.

This is how the NJEA describes their endorsement selection process:

The endorsements come from a vote to NJEA's 125-member political action committee (NJEA PAC). Candidates were invited to respond to a questionnaire about their public education and labor priorities and invited to attend a screening with members of their local screening committee, made up of NJEA members from their district, and reflecting the diversity of the NJEA’s membership.

We reached out to Senator Polistina for a public comment following his receiving the NJEA endorsement.

“I'm incredibly thankful to receive the endorsement of the New Jersey Education Association. Providing the strongest public educational delivery systems are of paramount importance in the daily lives of all families in Atlantic County and the state of New Jersey,” said Polistina.

Polistina has been racking up union endorsements this election season as follows:

Polistina has received the following union endorsements to date.

• New Jersey State AFL-CIO.
• Atlantic-Cape Building Trades.
• UNITE-HERE LOCAL 54.
• Communication Workers of America (CWA).

”From the start, we said we would support anyone and everyone who wants an opportunity to work hard, put food on the table and provide for their families. Our record proves that we have done just that and the grassroots support we are garnering is tremendous,” said Polistina.

“We look forward to winning in November and working with this important organization and their members to reinvest in Atlantic City, diversify our local economy and create additional and better opportunity for everyone that calls Atlantic County home,” said Polistina.