OPINION: Tim Alexander – Why Black New Jerseyans Must Rally Behind Mikie Sherrill – A Closing Argument
Tim Alexander. Photo courtesy Tim Alexander.
OPINION
BY TIM ALEXANDER
OCEANVILLE — I grew up splitting my time between the streets of Newark and Vineland, the son of a proud Black family who lived through the Civil Rights Movement and the Newark uprising.
Those lessons of struggle and resilience shaped me, and I carried them into my career here in South Jersey. I raised my children in this community while serving first in law enforcement, before continuing the fight for justice as a civil rights attorney.
I’ve seen our communities from every angle: from the squad room to the prosecutor’s office, from the courtroom to the neighborhood centers.
Look at the numbers. In Atlantic County, the heart of our Second Congressional District and home to Atlantic City, the median household income from 2019 to 2023 was about $76,800, nearly a quarter lower than the state average.
Atlantic ranked 19th of 21 counties by income, with only Salem and Cumberland lower. Cumberland’s median income was roughly $64,500, the lowest in New Jersey, and Salem sits just above that. These were the three counties where my wife Anna and I lived and worked.
Republican governments lead all three, and all three are the poorest in the state. That is no coincidence; it is the result of decades of neglect and bad policies that treat our neighborhoods as expendable.
Mikie Sherrill understands that we can’t keep abandoning families in the southern half of New Jersey. A Naval Academy graduate, former Navy helicopter pilot, and federal prosecutor, she brings a record of service and a willingness to fight for working people.
She has promised to tackle affordability head-on: expanding first-time homebuyer assistance, lowering prescription drug and utility bills, and expanding the child tax credit. She talks about climate resilience not as an abstract concept, but as something rooted in the flooding and pollution that overwhelm our streets.
Jack Ciattarelli is offering a very different future. His education plan would starve public schools while making them more segregated, cut health clinics, and defund Planned Parenthood. Worse, he has built his campaign in the image of Donald Trump.
Democrats across the state have rightly accused him of cozying up to the president for political gain. Sherrill herself warned that “a Trump yes man like Jack Ciattarelli in Trenton will threaten New Jersey’s values.”
She’s right. Ciattarelli touts Trump’s endorsement, embraces the MAGA agenda, and courts those who would roll back our rights. A vote for Ciattarelli is a vote to invite Trump’s extremism into the State House.
There are always those who look like us but quietly serve as undercover agents, nudging us to act against our best interests. Listen to what they say, read what they write, more importantly, what they don’t say. They beat down the Democratic candidate while saying nothing about the Republican’s shortcomings and extremism.
They whisper that sitting out the election is harmless, or that one issue should outweigh the survival that greatly benefits our families. That is how our power gets stolen. We cannot afford to fall for it.
And let’s be clear: Mickie may not be perfect, no one is, but she’s on our side. She’s committed to fighting for working families, tackling affordability head-on, and bringing a record of real service to the table. After all, she has dedicated her life to serving this country, including in uniform.
Jack? He wants to slash spending by implementing a N.J. DOGE-like program, modeled after Elon Musk’s, that will cut state programs that keep our communities afloat and help working and middle-class folks get ahead.
And when he talks about “restoring law and order,” we know exactly what that means: some communities will be served, while others will be over-policed and have their rights trampled on.
This election isn’t about choosing the perfect candidate.
It’s about choosing someone who will stand up for us, not strip away our livelihoods and dignity. Mickie is that choice. Together, we can protect our communities, fight for affordability, and move forward — not backward.
Our vote must reflect the whole picture. And when you look at the whole picture, it is clear that one candidate is committed to representing the interests of all New Jerseyans, while the other is a vessel for Trump’s extreme, MAGA agenda.
Some of us are so frustrated by politics that we consider staying home in November. I hear it at church and in the grocery store, and recently, I read it in print: “Democrats ignore us, so why vote?”
Let me be blunt, cynicism is a luxury we cannot afford. Not voting doesn’t punish the establishment; it hands power to the very forces that would disenfranchise us. When voters of color stay home, candidates like Ciattarelli win. And if he wins, the poorest counties will remain poor, and the divide between north and south will widen.
Voting for Sherrill is not an act of blind faith; it is a practical step toward a more just state. It is choosing a leader who respects our struggles and offers concrete plans to make life better. It is saying that communities of color deserve more than empty slogans and trickle-down promises.
We deserve leadership that sees us, hears us, and fights for us – and mark my words, that is not Jack Ciattarelli.
In Newark as well as in Vineland, I learned that progress is never given; it is earned at the ballot box and defended in court. In South Jersey, we taught our children that democracy is a verb. On Nov. 4, we have a chance to prove that truth again. Let’s show up, stand together, and make sure Mikie Sherrill — not a Trump clone like Jack — is the one writing our state’s next chapter.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tim Alexander is a civil rights attorney, a former prosecutor, and had a career in law enforcement as a retired captain of detectives. He currently lives in South Jersey with his wife Anna. His opinions are his own.
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