1991 New Jersey Legislative Elections

Here, they labled all Democrats as allies to Florio, focusing on the fact that no republican had voted for the Florio Taxes—a move Democrats accused of being cynical given the state was facing a large Budget deficit & republicans only planned to repeal a part of the hike durring the campaign

To this effect, the campaign saw such stunts as Democratic Old Bridge Senator James Phillips bringing a life sized cuttout to campaign events to metaphorically Push Florio away from him and challenge his opponent to do the same, and Dropping party lables from campaign materials.

But such stunts didn't work as over 75% of the state did not know how their legislators voted on the Florio Taxes, assuming—as republicans campaigned on—voting against the Democratic party as the incumbent party responsible for the taxes. 

Another factor was the impact of redistricting—with many members being introduced to new voters, and districts shifting arround the state (such as the 30th District moving from Essex to Ocean and Burlington counties) incumbents couldn't count on their personal brands, and were further tied to party lables.