Another election without voters.

It’s been 4 days since the November 7th election. A day filled with highs and lows and as usual, a little controversy. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but the opposition team lost the election. The margin was about 2000 votes. That’s not a lot of votes with 50,000 voters in Gloucester Township, but a loss is still a loss. I’ll be honest, I’m not upset that I won’t be your councilman, but I am upset that they won. Like my friend Ray Henry said to me, it’s like watching the Dallas Cowboys win the Superbowl.

I’ve taken a lot of phone calls and have seen many social media posts regarding the election. Many people are Monday morning quarterbacking this election and some have suggested voting doesn’t matter. Some blame corruption, some blame the Republican party and a lot of people blame the 8000+ people that voted for the Democrat machine that has ruled South Jersey for a very long time. All of this is wrong.

Bad officials are elected by good people who don’t vote.

If you had asked me days prior to the election what I thought was going to be the reason for losing I would have said partisan issues. It’s a blue township and some people won’t vote Republican no matter what. This is what I was told over and over by many people as I door-knocked this year. While that played a factor it, it wasn’t the whole reason the day went the way it did. Good Board of Education candidates lost as well and they are not politically connected. They were also not Republican. Outside of that, a few of the Democrats who were elected are actually Republicans who switched because it’s the easiest path to victory.

Last month I was criticized for insulting GT voters. This election proved my point.

Apathy & ignorance are the 2 biggest factors in this loss and the many losses from years prior. There is no other way to see it when less than 30% or registered voters get out and exercise that right. Years ago there may have been an excuse for not voting, but now with mail-in voting and a 10-day early voting period, there simply are no excuses. It is a civic duty and a right that we should not take for granted.

Did people not know about the election?

How could you not realize it was election day?! The mailers, text messages, robocalls, TV ads, and social media game was on a whole new level. I ran in this election and desperately needed advertising, but even I couldn’t stand all of the advertising.

How do we fix this?

Voting isn’t enough. If you drove by the Democrat Club on Coles Road on election day you would have noticed it was PACKED. They had hundreds of people there ready to work and at the end of the long day, they were still going strong. Months before that, they organized events, hit senior centers, and harvested mail-in ballots. Mail-in was their path to victory because they played the system as well as anyone could. They had the manpower to do it.

On the Republican side, they had about 10 people. Some of them weren’t even Republicans. Most of the advertising and events you saw were organized by the candidates or from the County committee with the help of Washington Township Committee members.

The old saying is, “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” That doesn’t work anymore. You have to do more than vote. You have to volunteer. In 2025 there will be another election for mayor and 3 council seats. Without at least 100 volunteers the next set of challengers (definitely not me) will lose.

My plans going forward

One thing is for sure. I am never running again. I made the promise to friends and family that I would never run again and I’m going to stick to that. Without help, I lost too much time and money. My teammates did the same and I’m sure you won’t see them on a ballot again. I lost twice and that’s enough. I’ll watch council meetings online and continue on with the podcast because I still want to support the great people of this town who care. As a candidate, I limited myself from engaging with overly toxic people and folks who have been brainwashed by too much TV. As more of an activist and reporter, I won’t have those restrictions. To be honest, I was going to move after losing in 2021, and now that I’m certain how broken GT politics are I don’t want to give my tax money to these people anymore. My fingers are crossed for a new president that will bring interest rates down so I have more options.

I’d like to thank a few people.

I’d like to thank the voters who voted for me. As messy as politics are, I truly was honored to be one of the people who stood up for you. I’d also like to thank the voters who voted against me. You performed your civic duty and that is one of the greatest freedoms we have. We have to work on your decisions, but I’m still happy you voted.

I can’t forget to thank my team. Joe Damico, Ray Henry, and Tim Pfeffer are outstanding people to know. I made friends with those guys over the last 2 years and that’s one thing I’ll never regret. Along with them, we had a great group of people supporting us in both the Camden County and Gloucester County Republican Committees. They did what they could with the little bit of volunteers they had.

Finally, I can’t forget my motivation for all of this. Keith Gibbons, Denise Coyne, Pete Heinbaugh, Paul Krug, Dena Hendry, Mary Ann Johnson, Terri Fretz, Ira Eckstein, Sam Sweet, Ray Palidoro and everyone who has gone to a council meeting and asked questions. If GT had more people like you the political machine would have no chance.