New Jersey Governor’s Race Could Reshape Democrats’ Entire Political Identity

The Democratic Party has been suffering an identity crisis for a while now. They can’t decide whether to lean into the far-left faction of their party or appeal to the center-left and independent voters who flocked to Republicans in 2024.

While some Democrats, such as Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, are focusing on capturing the left’s version of national populism, others seem unable to understand that identity politics no longer wins elections. An op-ed in The New York Times warned that the New Jersey gubernatorial race could be the “Rorschach test” for whether their entire political identity has to change.