The future of the Democratic Party in America might be decided in large part by New Jersey voters.

New Jersey remains in the running to be one of the first early presidential primary states in 2024.

The effort to thrust the Garden State into the heart of the presidential sweepstakes is being led by Democratic State Chairman LeRoy Jones, Jr., who has been lobbying the Democratic National Committee to move our state's primary election from June to February.

Jones has been arguing that New Jersey's diversity better reflects America, compared to current early primary states like New Hampshire and Iowa.

"Let’s make New Jersey one of the first primary states and set up future Democratic Party presidential nominees for long-term success," Jones wrote in a letter to DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison.

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The New Jersey Globe is reporting that New Jersey has now been invited to make a formal presentation to the DNC rules and bylaws committee.

Even if the DNC were to approve of New Jersey moving the primary to February, the state legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy would have to agree.

There is widespread public support among New Jersey Democrats for making the move, according to a recent poll from Monmouth University.

https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_nj_040722/

There was far less support, 39%, among Republicans.

The New York Times reports the DNC is considering 13 other states and one U.S. Territory as early primary states: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia. Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington and Puerto Rico.

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In 2017, Gov. Phil Murphy won the election by 14.1 percentage points, a margin exceeding 303,000. His re-election was much closer, an 84,000-vote, 3.2-point victory. He and others talked about a ‘red wave’ of Republican voters in the electorate, and certified results show which counties turned red most.

New Jersey's new legislative districts for the 2020s

Boundaries for the 40 legislative districts for the Senate and Assembly elections of 2023 through 2029, and perhaps 2031, were approved in a bipartisan vote of the Apportionment Commission on Feb. 18, 2022. The map continues to favor Democrats, though Republicans say it gives them a chance to win the majority.

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