Julia Sass Rubin noted that for decades, the county line had been the key tool enabling political machines to dominate elections, but this year’s results—where party-endorsed candidates lost in multiple counties and Assembly races—demonstrated that voter choice was no longer being structurally constrained.
Topic
Julia Sass Rubin
If the primary election was an ‘earthquake’ for New Jersey, the epicenter was in Camden County
Julia Sass Rubin described the June 2025 New Jersey primary as a historic turning point in state politics, signaling the erosion of long-entrenched county party control following the elimination of the controversial county line system.
NJ Democrats hold their breath as the primary unfolds without the county line | Opinion
“If they can demonstrate that they still wield a lot of power, that will potentially ricochet to fewer candidates running in the future, and we’ll be back to largely where we were before,” Sass Rubin said.
The Political Machine Won’t Decide NJ’s Next Governor
“The political machines adapt. They’re about surviving. If this is all very effective for them, they will do the same thing again,” Rubin said. “If it doesn’t work, if their preferred candidates don’t win, I fully expect them to change the rules again to make it even easier for them to control the outcome.”
Could absence of party line lead to primary election surprises?
“I would say the two most notable impacts so far are that so many Democrats and Republican candidates, including pretty legitimate candidates with a shot at winning, [are] choosing not to go for an endorsement. That would have been unheard of before,” said Rubin, an associate dean at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
This year, the NJ primary is actually competitive for a change. Get out and vote | Opinion Julia Sass Rubin
New Jersey’s lack of competitive primaries was one of many negative consequences of the county line primary ballot. Candidates who did not receive preferential ballot positions on the county line tended to drop out, leading to choiceless primaries reminiscent of elections in the former Soviet Union.
Gov. Murphy Lectures in Roseman’s Class
Governor Phil Murphy joined former Chief Speechwriter Derek Roseman’s Political Communications for Public Policy class at the Bloustein School on April 2nd.
Pay-to-play
“What it means is that contracts are being awarded not on the basis of who is the most qualified, but on the basis potentially of who has given the largest sums of money to those decision makers,” Rubin said.
Do Party Chairmen Still Hold Power in New Jersey Now That the Party Line Is Gone?
Political analyst Julia Sass Rubin, a professor at Rutgers University who has studied the county line’s effects, argues that while the change is a step toward fairness, party chairmen retain significant sway. “The line’s removal weakens their ability to directly control ballot placement, but these leaders still command loyalty, fundraising networks, and grassroots operations,” Rubin said. “They’ve lost a tool, not their toolbox.”
County conventions were all the rage in NJ. Now candidates are skipping out.
“The fact that so many people are choosing not to go through the process really highlights just how powerful the county line itself is in determining who wins the primary, putting aside all that other stuff,” said Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers professor whose research was cited in overturning the line. “The candidates feel like they can afford to do this now. They don’t have to drop out if they’re not the favorite daughter or son, and they don’t have to go through the process of getting endorsed.”