TRENTON, NJ – While a growing trend in the United States is seeing record numbers of registered Democrats switching to the Republican party, in New Jersey, key Republican leaders have switched to the Democrat party in recent days.
Last week, New Jersey State Senator Sam Thompson, a Republican, said he is switching parties. Later, Orthodox Jewish leader Rabbi Avi Schnall, head of the New Jersey Branch of Agudath Israel of America, said he was becoming a Democrat and will run for state assembly.
Combined, those two moves could see the Republican party losing seats in the state legislature in November.
Democrats in New Jersey said the Republican party in the state is in disarray. Thompson cited dysfunction in the Ocean and Monmouth County GOP organizations for his decision. In recent years, the two organizations have been battling each other behind the scenes, and in Ocean County, the party has been waging a civil war in plain sight for four years now.
“From Washington to Trenton and everywhere in between, the Republican Party continues to be in disarray and Senator Thompson switching parties is the latest example. Republicans are struggling to recruit quality legislative candidates and they are hopelessly stuck playing to their extreme right-wing base by supporting unpopular policy ideas like cutting Social Security and Medicare,” Phil Swibinski, a spokesman for the New Jersey Democrats said. “Meanwhile, Democrats are focused on actually delivering solutions to help make our state and our country more affordable, safer and more equitable for everyone.”
