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The NJ LD-04 Senate election, a contest between 7 term assemblyman Paul Moriarty & frm. Washington Twp Councilman Chris DelBorello was seen as the most competitive state senate election of 2023 in NJ ended up being almost a 10% blowout for democrats & a key win for the SJ Machine
A Biden+7% / Ciattarelli+5% seat, this seat was *the* top GOP pickup for 2023 and presented an existential threat to Norcross & Camden Dems, as it gives the GOP an opening to gain senatorial courtesy over Camden county
(for the uninitiated Senatorial courtesy is the practices of senators being able to place holds for gubernatorial nominees who reside in their home county/districts)
As such, it was a heartburn inducing, but not unexpected, event for south Jersey Dems when 20 year incumbent Senator & former Gloucester county chair - Fred Madden - announced he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2023.
This led to the Norcross Machine tapping longtime assemblyman, Paul Moriarty, to run for the 4th district.
However, for a while Norcross Dems believed that they were in the clear, with staunch Conservative Nick DeSilvio (a Bill Spadea/Ed Durr Republican) looking to have the nomination locked up.
But due to some resentment by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 and the Buena GOP for having their guy (Matt Walker) not chosen for the ticket, they built an opposing slate to DeSilvio - around Chris DelBorello, who is notable a Camden resident - which wrestled away the Camden line from him.
Notably, DelBorello was a Camden county resident, and a win by him would have given Rs senatorial courtesy over such county, kneecapping George Norcross’ power.
This, in addition to the DelBorello slate wrestling Gloucester County’s Column A from Nick DeSilvio’s Gloucester county backed slate (the Gloucester GOP has had & has an ongoing civil war) was a gut punch to DeSilvio’s chances.
Needless to say, this, despite Norcross dumping money to try and prop up DeSilvio, resulted in DelBorello - who was seen as the stronger candidate - winning the primary with a commanding 61.6% of the vote.
Once in the General, DelBorello hit all the beats that the NJ GOP hit in 2023, parental choice in education, opposing offshore wind energy, and opposing the Murphy changes to Sex Education.
By contrast, Moriarty claimed there was already strong parental choice in NJ Education and further claimed to oppose the Sex Ed changes, though he defended the offshore wind farm - all the while attacking DelBorello as a “MAGA” republican extremist.
Moriarty also attacked DelBorello’s family business - which had been investigated by the FBI resulting in his brother being arrested for money laundering - & his politically involved father’s racist social media posts.
Norcross Dems also propped up Conservative Independent, Giuseppe Costanzo to draw votes from DelBorello - though this was inconsequential.
This district’s competitive edge further saw immense fundraising on both sides with over 2 million spent on Moriarty’s candidacy through Norcross & Moriarty’s fundraising, and 1.5 million spent on DelBorello’s through the 825 Union & DelBorello’s own fundraising.
However this competitiveness in fundraising and the GOP attack’s weren’t enough - & with the neutral national environment, Moriarty ended up winning by a comfortable 9.9% margin, outperforming not just Phil Murphy’s 2021 showing, but Biden’s 2020 showing.
In doing so protecting Camden from GOP senatorial courtesy for four years.
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