A few weeks ago, the experts were predicting Democrat victories in New Jersey and Virginia, plus a shocker in New York City.  My guess is that Virginia will go Democrat and New York City will indeed elect a socialist.  It’s New Jersey that may shock the experts.  The “blue model” may be on the ballot in The Garden State as Alfredo Ortiz posted:

Four years ago, voters in New Jersey signaled a massive change in the nation’s political mood when with Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli nearly upset incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in this blue state. The message was clear: Republican policies are ascendant. Since then, federal Republicans have taken back both houses of Congress and the White House.

The off-year elections this fall in New Jersey and Virginia are once again poised to be national political bellwethers. In the case of New Jersey, the election offers voters a referendum on the blue state model of governance: high taxes, increasing energy costs and burdensome regulations.

Nowhere are the consequences of this model more evident than with small businesses. For years, Main Street entrepreneurs in the Garden State have been fighting uphill battles against some of the most hostile economic policies in America. The Tax Foundation ranks New Jersey as the second-worst state for doing business, behind only New York.

Consider taxes. New Jersey’s top individual income tax rate, paid by many small ‘pass-through’ businesses, is 10.75 percent, and its second-highest rate is 9 percent — among the most punishing in the nation. The state’s corporate income tax rate is the highest in the country.

Then there’s the state’s notorious property tax, also the highest in the nation, that sticks many small businesses and ordinary homeowners with annual bills that amount to around 3 percent of their property values. The state’s ANCHOR property tax relief program explicitly excludes businesses, even though they shoulder nearly half of New Jersey’s property tax burden.

Well, who predicted that?  A revolution of small business owners fed up with high taxes and regulations?  As Alfredo points out, New Jersey is now the second-worst place to do business, trailing only New York.  Add property taxes, and you have all of the elements of an electoral explosion.  Add high energy prices, and don’t blame the voters for feeling displeased when they hear another Democrat talking about “green energy” solutions.

The blue model is failing in California, New York, and Illinois to name three states run by Democrats.  You see voters fleeing those states and looking for a better life elsewhere.  Unlike New Jersey, those states are just doubling down on the blue model and there are no signs of a change coming.  Thankfully, New Jersey is coming around, and we may all be thinking of future Governor Jack Ciattarelli as the 2028 GOP VP nominee.

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Image from Grok.