In a pivotal election season where New Jersey’s working families cry out for bold leadership, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee issued an endorsement that moves in the right direction—but stops before reaching the heart of the matter.
The PCCC’s support for Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in the Democratic gubernatorial primary is a meaningful gesture, recognizing two local leaders who have demonstrated resolve in the face of entrenched systems.
But the endorsement, issued by PCCC co-founder and Garden State native Adam Green, falters by hedging its bet—and in doing so, it softens a moment that demands full-throated moral clarity. If we had ranked choice voting, it would be fine to recommend more than one candidate.
The PCCC, with its grassroots army and record of championing economic justice, has made an indelible mark on national progressive politics. It has trained candidates, mobilized millions, and stood against the greed of corporate behemoths.
That credibility lent weight to the statement that Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill is “a milquetoast Democrat, not a bold leader.”
It was the kind of rare and necessary candor that cuts through the gauze of donor-driven consensus.
In critiquing her Wall Street entanglements, her silence on Social Security, and her failure to lead when leadership was most needed, the PCCC voiced what many voters already suspect: that proximity to power does not equate to courage in its use.
Yet while Green’s statement rightly questioned Sherrill’s commitment to transformative change, it fell glaringly short of confronting the glaring rot in New Jersey politics that runs much deeper than most voters know.
Sherrill is not alone.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat in name but a corporate apologist in practice, has long served as a Trojan horse for right-wing economic interests. His obstruction of President Biden’s agenda was not compromise—it was sabotage dressed in centrist clothing. Gottheimer earned a reputation as Donald Trump’s favorite Democrat and the Bergen County millionaire voted for the GOP tyrant’s agenda more than any other House member who was not a Republican /
Former Senate President Steve Sweeney, meanwhile, has built his career on backroom deals and allegiance to corporate titans, often indistinguishable from the Republicans he claims to oppose.
To name one figure and ignore the others is to treat symptoms while leaving the disease unchecked. It is not enough to rebuke one cog in the machine. If we are to break the grip of moneyed influence on the political soul of this state, we must name each strand in the web. Silence on Gottheimer and Sweeney is not oversight—it is omission. And omission, in politics as in history, is complicity.
The PCCC’s dual endorsement of Fulop and Baraka is a gesture of unity, but it is also a political dodge. Only one candidate will win. And in the interest of clarity—both for the movement and for the voters—it is time to choose. Fulop’s anti-corruption rhetoric has drawn attention, but it is Baraka who has consistently aligned himself with people-powered movements. When immigration agents raided Newark, it was Baraka who stood with his community. When national leaders turned their backs on the poorest among us, Baraka marched forward with dignity. In a state plagued by political machines, that kind of courage is not just notable—it is necessary.
The people of New Jersey deserve a governor who will not merely resist injustice, but dismantle the systems that breed it. They deserve a leader who does not hesitate to name corruption wherever it festers—even within their own party. And they deserve organizations like the PCCC to not only fight—but to tell the full truth.
Half-steps will not carry us to justice. Only when the righteous are unafraid to offend the comfortable and disturb the complacent, will this democracy be reborn in the image of those it was meant to serve.