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In February 2015, Edwin Gomes became the first candidate running solely on the Working Families Party (WFP) line to win a seat in a state legislature. Gomes beat out four other candidates in a special election to represent Connecticut’s 23rd senate district. On May 5, 2015, the WFP won another special election – this one to fill a vacant seat in New York’s legislature. Diana Richardson now represents the General Assembly's 43rd district, covering Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Th

The New Jersey Watchdog reports that potential presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent $82,594 at Jets and Giants games during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. No, this wasn't coming out of his $175,000/year salary -- it was spent as part of his expense advance, “an allowance of funds not otherwise appropriated and used for official receptions on behalf of the state, the operation of an official residence, for other expenses.” The governor receives a $95,000 per year allo

The 2016 election is already in full swing with eight candidates having officially declared their candidacy (two for the Democratic nomination, six for the Republican nomination). Polling of these candidates among potential constituencies has already begun as well, to wildly different projections. With 18 months still to go, a lot is sure to change. However, one factor is sure to influence the election, and that is the changing demographics in the American electorate. Much has been made of the

Our American election system is broken in no small part thanks to the primary election system. The Republican and Democratic parties have worked hand-in-hand for over a century to make ‘their’ party primaries the centerpiece of the entire electoral process. In an age where 43 percent of Americans consider themselves politically independent of the two major parties, the twisted state-sanctioned closed primary election process prevalent in the majority of U.S. elections frequently leads to elect

It can be hard to keep super PAC names straight. For example, there is Right to Rise, the committee supporting a presidential run by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and there is America Rising, another PAC designated to raise and spend unlimited sums of money in hopes of defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016. You may also have heard of Our American Revival (supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker), America Leads (New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie), and Pursuing America's Greatness (former Arkansas G

On Wednesday, April 8, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in the case, Balsam v. Guadagno (Secretary of the State of New Jersey). The court affirmed a lower district court’s decision to dismiss a constitutional challenge to New Jersey’s closed partisan primary, holding that New Jersey may limit those who have a fundamental right to cast a vote in the primary election to party members. Appellants argued that New Jersey’s closed primary elections, in a state where 48 percent

Editor's note: This article has been updated to be more up to date with the current presidential administration. Updated on January 20, 2017. When Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20, 2017, he will officially be the president with the least experience entering office in modern history. It is not rare to see political novices run for high office, but their much broader success in winning support is a more contemporary trend. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, all young senators with littl

Generally, most Americans like to think of our elections as a public process, designed to elect candidates that best represent the people of a given district. Right? Then why is it we spend years listening to political pontifications about which candidate will ‘win over’ the hyper-partisan faithful few that vote in presidential primary elections? It’s because in state-after-state, both parties have worked for more than a century to subvert the influence of those independent-minded voters who

At a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Thursday, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker highlighted the importance of securing the United States' northern border as well as the one to the south. While he questioned the Director of the All-Threat Intelligence Center, Bryan Costigan, Senator Booker said: "Everytime I hear, 'Secure the border' people seem to be talking about our southern border. I come in and I see a picture of Latinos crossing the river, and I wonder where's the picture of the C

A New Jersey grand jury indicted the senior senator from New Jersey on Wednesday. Democrat Bob Menendez is the subject of an ongoing federal investigation regarding whether he improperly advocated on behalf of a private business. If Menendez were to step down, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie would appoint someone to take his place, which would likely widen the Republican majority in the Senate. Menendez was re-elected in 2012 and ran unopposed in the state's closed partisan primary. Sen. Bo