Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 07:45:58 PM EDT
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| Diversity has come slowly and painstakingly to the New Jersey state legislature, no doubt, a legislative body that often serves as a pipeline to NJ's congressional delegation. Some with little conscience for social justice might say "we" are post-race or post-gender and thus shouldn't even bother with a diary about this kind of thing, but we progressives know better, especially in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision that, for all practical purposes, overturns the 1954 Brown decision.
In the state senate, the new gender breakdown among the minority membership of the upper chamber will be radically altered, and not just the minimum 4-3 split. It could likely be an even more significant 5-2. It would be yet another sign of the turnover this election cycle, and points to one more way the dynamic in the Statehouse will be different come January '08. |
| progressivemuslimnj :: Come 2008, in the new State Senate, Minority Women outnumber Minority Men in Trenton. |
| In the new state legislature, there will definitely be an unprecedented four state senators that are women of color:
1) Nia Gill
2) Shirley Turner
3) Dana Redd
4) Sandra Cunningham
The outcome of the fifth one can't be predicted just yet. In the 29th district, Teresa Ruiz faces off against Bill Payne for that seat. Ruiz is favored to win, as independents rarely win much of anything in NJ, but a third challenger, independent Luis Quintana, who is even less likely to win, and not just because of the "I" after his name (and let's leave it at that), but he could draw off enough votes from Ruiz to allow Payne to win narrowly, making it 4-3 instead of 5-2.
But, if Ruiz does indeed win the 3-way race, you will no longer have a minority caucus that is anything but overwhelmingly composed of women. In fact, you have to look on the other side of the aisle from the one that minorities usually flock to (at least in NJ) to Kevin O'Toole, who will likely be the winner of the race in the 40th (not that I'm cheering for him, mind you), to make it so that Ron Rice Sr., the sole incumbent male senator of color that will make it to the new senate, in order to find another so that Rice isn't completely on his lonesome in that regard. But I doubt that the NJ state legislature will create a bi-partisan minority caucus any time soon, and will simply settle for the bicameral one they already have. |
| Tags:
Kevin O'Toole,
ethnic minorities,
legislative make-up,
NJ elections,
Shirley Turner,
Nia Gill,
Sandra Cunningham,
dana redd,
race,
women,
Ron Rice,
Luis Quintana,
William D. Payne,
Teresa Ruiz,
State Senate,
2007 elections,
(All Tags)
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