Those members of the New Jersey political establishment devitalized by lost political battles now want to brand Mikie Sherrill simply the "establishment" candidate in the Democratic Primary for Governor.

But Sherrill is a significantly more complex phenomenon within a context of politics changed in the Trump era.

First of all, Sherill came into politics in New Jersey by forcing the retirement of a Republican incumbent and changing a longtime red congressional district blue. The constituency she built mostly included suburban voters angered by the excesses of Donald Trump's first presidential term and truly irritated by the acquiescent silence of then-U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11).

Don't forget - don't ever forget - the precedent of those times, which included the President of the United States creating a false equivalency between white supremacists and progressive activists.

Sherrill, a Navy veteran who served our country honorably, rightly identified the extremism shackling Republicans dominated by a feckless and hateful leader.

The "establishment," such as it was at that time in the lead up to the historic 2018 midterm election when Sherrill first won her congressional seat, only gradually - and because of the impeccable credentials and courageous campaign undertaken by the Democratic Party principal - came to see the 11th District as a clear pickup opportunity and priority.

Not unlike Barack Obama nationally in 2008, Sherrill in CD-11 - because of the uniqueness of her candidacy and public service story - brought a whole new base of voters into the process, who combined with the party establishment, itself largely a creature of flux, to demonstrate Sherrill's capacity to build a new coalition.

Let's talk about that establishment for a moment.

While the temptation exists to see the Democratic Party in New Jersey as merely a conglomerate of corroded mothballs, utterly detached from that part of the voting population that does not depend on a public paycheck, the party has changed in a significant way since precisely that time when Sherrill entered the fray.

First, State Party Chairman LeRoy Jones stepped up to take on the longtime statewide domination of the South Jersey Democratic Party machine, led by George Norcross III, who helped furnish what the late Nick Acocella described as "the imperial senate presidency" of Steve Sweeney. As South Jersey slid deeper under a red cloud created by the region's enthusiasm for Trump, Jones' region of the state grew bluer and more resistant to the hate-spewing President.

Jones' political homebase of Essex County grew closer to Middlesex County, led by Chairman Kevin McCabe and these leaders moved forward with a new leadership structure, in part forged by relationships of the past, of course, but critically, absorbing those change-agent voters who first surged throughout Morris County with such hope, to create history in 2018 by electing Mikie Sherrill.

That midterm election established the momentum to defeat Trump in 2020.

But ultimately that tired part of the establishment that could not change, which could not put aside its own careerist interests in favor of the country, ultimately aided the reelection of the most self-absorbed and unethical president in our history, the charlatan in part infamously created or at least empowered by New Jersey.

"The establishment" that greenlighted Trump to ultimately do a shameful demolition job on the workers of Atlantic City before he evacuated, is not this party establishment that - in part - backs Sherrill.

Critically and fundamentally, the congresswoman running for governor is evidence that this group, which includes the leadership not only of McCabe and Jones, but Brian Stack of Hudson County, Craig Guy of Hudson, Dan Benson of Mercer, John Currie (former State Party Chair), and Union County Democratic Party leadership, among many others, including U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (all of whom at one time or another have stood outside of power and fought their way in), understands how necessary it is to work with a new generation of leadership in our great state.

Sherrill perhaps has a more uneasy relationship with the establishment than others engaged in this political cycle. Others in the race sought the rings of power then disappeared in the dead of night without credible explanation, only to reemerge volubly opposed to the establishment. Others in the race demonstrate little understanding of the complexity of the world beyond their own parochial backyards.

As a military officer with nine years at the helm of her own helicopter, the North Jersey Congresswoman is arguably more disposed than any of the other candidates to be more uncomfortable with systems long dominated by male figures who never pulled down a firehose, worked a night shift, or flew helicopters in the Middle East.

But Sherrill - situationally aware, trained with a fundamental sense of mission critical - builds coalitions.

That's what she does.

A natural ally of "the establishment" is reared in the codes and conduct of the establishment, is in fact by definition engrained with their prerogatives and priorities.

Sherrill is different.

She offers that rarest of contrast opportunities for voters here intent on withstanding the nefarious and grotesque self-interestedness of Donald Trump, to bring together many of those still-standing veterans of the political wars here, with others new to the cause, to make our state more than the ravages of Trump's jaded commercial interests, to show the world who we are in this critical election year with enormous implications, and to at long last make New Jersey proud.