NJ CD 08

[jman123]

Remember, the party line was abolished in NJ for this primary.

[Atlas Force]

I live next door to this district. If this means anything, I’ve gotten a bunch of pro-Bhalla and anti-Menendez digital ads, while the only pro-Menendez ad I’ve gotten was today.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I live next door to this district. If this means anything, I’ve gotten a bunch of pro-Bhalla and anti-Menendez digital ads, while the only pro-Menendez ad I’ve gotten was today.

Same, I’ve been getting the same Bhalla ad in English and Spanish over and over again for weeks now.

[ProgressiveModerate]

Menendez for multiple reasons. Firstly the general sense I get is there are a lot that don't really attach his father's corruption to him. Additionally, there is a pretty large Hispanic block that will likely vote for Menendez because of his last name. Finally, there's recently been a negative story around Bhalla's ethics as Hoboken mayor - not sure if it goes anywhere but makes it harder for attacks on Menendez as corrupt to land.

Also Menendez is the incumbent so a lot will just vote for him by default.

I think the main thing that keeps Bhalla in it is the areas where he likely does best (white communities, especially Hoboken and downtown Jersey City) will probably have higher turnout - NJ-08 tends to be a *very* low turnout district especially in these sorts of primaries. Also as others have pointed out he's winning when it comes to ads.

I am personally really rooting for Bhalla though - my family who lives in this district will personally be voting for him though I sort of helped make them engaged in this primary - without me they probably wouldn't vote.

[pikachu]

This has nothing to do with the race beyond Bhalla being Sikh, but I was walking near a Sikh Day parade in Midtown a few weekends ago and it was a de facto Khalistan rally. Bhalla did not attend, but a Chinese immigrant woman running for a minor judgeship in Queens was and it was fun talking to her about her decision to attend this event. Gotta love diaspora politics!

More to the point of the race itself, Bhalla hasn't made an appeal to identity a major part of his campaign beyond Indians donating to his campaign in disproportionate amounts nor has he said a word publicly about Khalistan, but obviously if he wins he will be the only Sikh in Congress. Considering recent actions undertaken by Indian government in relation to Khalistani activists in the US, I am extremely curious to see how he handles the issue if he's in office. There's going to be some cross-pressure between him being expected to be a spokesman for the community, but also dealing with NJ-08's non-negligible Indian population which will presumably be part of his coalition but is also more sympathetic to the BJP.

Also, I might be doing some exit polling of this race for AALDEF. Really fascinated in seeing how that goes, because there's an interesting tranche of issues this election.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Jr.'s dad is disgraced, but I'm not entirely sure that will threaten his incumbency, institutional support, or nane recognition.

I'm not in this district though, so I am not privy to what the campaign or vibes have been like.

I'm lucky to see an Andy Kim sign where I am.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

The negative story about Bhalla that ProgressiveModerate referred to, btw, is that Bhalla is facing a lawsuit from a former city employee alleging that he denied a license for a dispensary that would have competed with another dispensary, sitting on land owned by Steven Fulop’s wife, in exchange for Fulop giving his law firm work.

https://www.nj.com/hudson/2024/05/former-hoboken-director-attacks-bhalla-administrations-ethics-in-fiery-lawsuit.html?outputType=amp

[Pollster]

I've seen an enormous amount of contradictory polling in this race - none of the numbers are my own so I can't vouch for one poll over the other, but I don't think there's anybody hugely confident in what the contest currently looks like.

Really fun and refreshing to see something like this happening in New Jersey!

[LabourJersey]

Turnout is such a wild card that it's impossible to predict this race.

I do hope that Bhalla pulls it off. Menendez Jr just walked into winning this seat solely because of his father.

[Oryxslayer]

The trail of Menendez Sr. gets going today, so Bhalla's key talking point is going to start getting even more prominent in the buildup to the election.

[Torie]

Bhalla, the mayor of my hometown of Hoboken, easily.