Working Families Celebrates Amy Kennedy’s Win in NJ-2 Democratic Primary

Stinging Defeat for the Norcross Machine Upends Politics in South Jersey and Beyond

Camden, NJ — New Jersey Working Families celebrated a victory for its candidate Amy Kennedy in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 2. Kennedy will face off against turncoat former Democrat Jeff VanDrew in the general election this November.

“Activists and voters in South Jersey just knocked the most powerful and reactionary political machine in America flat on its back, and New Jersey will never be the same,” said Sue Altman, New Jersey Working Families State Director. “The Norcross machine went all in for hand-picked Norcross ally Brigid Harrison. First, they tried to clear the field for her by denying opponents the powerful county line, then they persecuted activists and organizers working with the Kennedy campaign, and finally, they tried to drown the district in SuperPAC money. None of it worked, because New Jersey voters are fed up with business as usual.”

“This is a stunning victory for progressives in New Jersey and a massive defeat for a conservative political machine which has for too long thwarted progressive change in the state,” said Altman. “The Norcross machine and the legislators it bankrolls have constantly tried to stop or slow progressive change in this state, whether it’s blocking a millionaires tax and corporate welfare reform, trying to water down the minimum wage, or even demanding New Jersey businesses open up while the COVID-19 pandemic rages across America. What tonight tells us is that voters have had enough of Norcross and his allies. It’s a new day in South Jersey.”

New Jersey Working Families was deeply engaged in the primary race, working to mobilize volunteers alongside other local progressive organizers and grassroots groups. Since 2009, Working Families has been at the forefront of the fight for a more accountable and responsive democracy in New Jersey, leading the charge for corporate welfare reform, a millionaires tax, a $15 minimum wage, paid sick days, automatic voter registration, and more.

“This is a total victory and a sign for democracy in South Jersey,” said Kate Delany, President of South Jersey Progressive Democrats. “This decisive win puts elections and the future of our party back into the hands of voters.”

Nationally, the Working Families Party is a grassroots progressive political party that fights to make our country work for the many, not just the few. WFP recruits, trains, and elects the next generation of progressive leaders to office.

The WFP is driving a progressive wave in elections across America. This year the WFP helped elect progressive champions Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones to Congress in New York, ousted five conservative Democratic state senators in New Mexico, helped DC Council Member-elect Janeese Lewis George beat back scaremongering attacks about defunding the police department, helped three progressive district attorneys in Colorado triumph in their primaries, and won a slew of elections throughout Pennsylvania.

Last year the WFP swelled the ranks of Chicago city council progressive caucus, put public education champions on the school board in Milwaukee, helped make Stephen Mason the first Black mayor of Cedar Hill, Texas, helped insurgent Latinx LGBTQ activist Candi CdeBaca oust a longtime incumbent on the Denver City Council, and elected other council members from Morgantown, W.Va., to Phoenix, Ariz.