MOUNT LAUREL - They built an organization here in Burlington County, in part the old-fashioned way through relationships and time, pragmaticism, and some luck - in addition to progressive politics and guts.

For all their countywide achievements, few in the statewide stratosphere saw a United States senator coming out of this pinewood forest stretch and scattershot of suburbia.

But they didn't know Andy Kim, who in 2024 didn't mind busting up that part of the political establishment that had grown creaky - and this is putting it mildly - in the service of chicanery.

"We worked our asses off," a woman told InsiderNJ at this Rowan University rally tonight for Mikie Sherrill, which Kim -

clearly beloved among his backyard backers - proudly offered as a county Democratic Party set piece strong enough to sustain himself, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and a future governor.

"It's about work, discipline, and grit," said Kim, who's never lost an election. "I wanted Mikie to come down here because I wanted her to meet the toughest political community in the country."

The crowd went berserk on that note.

Throw in Chairman Matt Riggins, U.S. Rep. Herb Conaway (D-3), state Senator Troy Singleton (D-7), countywide officers, and other legislators, among them Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D-7), Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-8), and you begin to get a sense of something happening here, and for them, it is exactly clear: the eradication from the political landscape Tuesday of Republican (and Trump ally) Jack Ciattarelli and - more importantly - the shining of a signal or "beacon," to borrow the word favored by Booker - to the rest of the country. On Tuesday, they want to expose President Donald Trump's corruption and crumbling powers and set in steady motion the beginning of the Democratic Party's march to replace lapdog Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.

While Democrats have taken over Burlington in the Trump era (Kamala Harris won 132,275 votes in the county last year, to Trump's 94,116), Ciattarelli and Sherrill won the same number of votes here in their respective primaries earlier this year (16,643 for Ciattarelli and 16,937 for Sherrill).

Obviously, they see Sherrill as a no-brainer over Ciattarelli, derided onstage by Booker as a MAGA apologist and, consequently, not an option.

"I see people who understand that their policies are hurting people and they just don't care," Conaway said of his Republican colleagues in the House. "We have been dealing with a president - when you look at the things happening in Washington today: the largest cut to healthcare in our nation's history, the largest transfer of wealth from the middle class and poor to the wealthiest people in the country, ICE agents masked and hooded taking people out of the country who are American citizens, military deployments. When you think of this president who has broken the law every day he has been in office, this is a criminal president we have, and we don't have a Republican Party willing to stand with us on anything. Suppression of the press. Taking over the courts. Putting people in government who are incompetent to do their jobs. An attorney General aiding and abetting. Keeping the Epstein Files undercover. She's supposed to be protecting people - children who have been raped. These people are known and she's doing nothing about it.

"People are looking at two states right now," the Congressman added. "This election is a prelude to what we need to do in 2026. I think we have one of the most educated electorates in the country, which is why New Jersey has a critical role to play now and going forward in 2026. If we don't, we'll see more of the same. The military deployments - this is to get people used to seeing the military in the streets because I don't think this man believes his presidency will be over come January of 2029. We're the people standing at the gate."

Booker and Kim put an exclamation point on those arguments.

So did Singleton.

Watch InsiderNJ's interview with Singleton HERE:

Proud of Kim, who hails from Burlington, the crowd here received Sherrill with the homespun hospitality of people eager to support Kim's congressional colleague, while also contributing to making history in support of the first woman Democratic Governor of New Jersey.

Some of them said they simply "like Mikie."

In the words of BurlCo Democrat Laura Beverage: "Mikie is probably one of the strongest candidates we've ever seen, in this state, and in any other state. We admire her grit and her integrity."

Certainly, these Democrats, in an appeal to American patriotism, the rule of law, and - candidly - the triumph of virtue over vice (and they figure they have some street cred on the subject given Kim's shakeup of the system), want to short-circuit Trump's Project 2025 designs.

"We still believe in something bigger than ourselves," said Singleton. "We believe in New Jersey. We believe in America, and we believe when times are tough, when stakes are high, when the future feels uncertain, we show up. The stakes this November could not be higher. This election is not just another race. It's not just about who sits in the governor's chair. It's about where we draw the line on our values: our values of decency, democracy and the dignity of every person, or whether we let that get chipped away piece by piece by the forces of derision, division, fear, and cynicism. Make no mistake. What happens here will echo across this country. The whole nation is watching New Jersey. They're watching to see if we're going to make the choice to stand up for women's rights, for the working class..."

The crowd drowned out the senator as his voice rose, and he passionately pounded the podium.

"There is only one person ready to lead this state with the courage, compassion and conviction we need and her name is Mikie Sherrill," shouted Singleton.

The Congresswoman received a standing ovation after Kim introduced her, walking onto the stage accompanied by Springsteen's "Born to Run."

"Here I am, saving the best for last," said the Democratic nominee, with a wink at Burlington, after a statewide whirlwind tour, on the last Sunday before Election Day. "We have a moment to weigh in on what's going on in this country. It often feels like the future of what we're fighting for comes down to New Jersey and I can think of no better place to wage this fight than right here and right now. ...New Jersey passed the very first anti-discrimination law in the nation. The very first one and what was even better than that - what happened was black soldiers were returning home after serving this country and they said, 'I can fight and die but I don't have equal rights' - and the very best thing, is the law passed unanimously. Because this has always been a state - this is the most densely populated state in the nation - it's always been a state that's diverse. I think of New Jersey as the gateway to America. We have the Statue of Liberty right in the harbor. Some people say it belongs to another state.

"But we know. we know," Sherrill said.