With November’s election just a few weeks away, the BTDC considers the upcoming contest even more critical than the last. Having won the majority, we now have to maintain the local government we’ve all worked so hard to realize by electing Joan Bannan and re-electing Mayor Ana Duarte McCarthy.

We don’t have to look too far back to see the change we’ve created. Nor do we have to gaze too closely around us to recognize the challenges that remain.  All in all, I know many of us pinch ourselves when we say, “Last year, Bernards turned blue.”

From afar, we appear like any other small community of about 30,000, a leafy green suburb in northern New Jersey. Look more closely, however, and note our political geography. Bernards sits in the back yard of Bedminster, and Trump National Golf Course, smack at the crossroads of summer MAGA-land and bluer than blue New York City. It’s a rather strange place to be, politically, and history has not been kind to Dems in our corner of Somerset County.

The Bernards Township Committee had been Republican ruled for nearly a century, since 1938, up until last year’s election. Out of towners find it hard to believe that we seated our first democratic mayor in history just this year. Or that our Board of Education recently banned high school sociology textbooks because they discuss the mere existence of racism and homosexuality in modern society.

Many have likely never seen something like the Charlie Kirk memorial that sat on a lawn across the street from our YMCA for many months and has just reappeared! Or the litany of pro-Trump, MAGA signage that continues to litter properties throughout town. Or the strident, misleading social media posts and campaign messages that misstate facts or trot out old and personal grievances in an effort to persuade and foment rage.

Yet if you’ve been looking closely, seeds of change have become discernible. Our municipal complex flies pride flags each June. A long and litigious battle over the building of a mosque yielded the township’s first Islamic house of worship several years back. Today the mosque is thriving, as is a Chabad Jewish center. Beginning in 2023, and after much petitioning, a Hanukkah menorah and Islamic crescent marking Ramadan were “allowed” for display a few blocks away from a majestic Christmas tree that has long adorned our town center.

On the flip side, progress has been slow and hard-fought. Many bumpers in our strip mall parking lots remain adorned with Trump stickers. SUVs and pick-up trucks boast Blue Lives Matter decals and flags. Our highways sometimes shut down to allow 47’s motorcades through, and our skies are busy with thump-thumping Marine One helicopters ferrying him to and from his golf club. Even the most recent election-cycle signage around town featured four or five Trump-aligned Jack Ciattarelli signs to every one for Mikie Sherrill.

In terms of voter registration, residents identify in the following ways:

• 6,821 Democrats
• 6,971 Republicans
• 8,361 Independents

It’s important to note the power of our Independents, and equally critical to remember the seeds of change that have taken root. Because last November, something remarkable happened. The Democratic Party in Bernards Township made history and won the majority.

Despite the loud strain of MAGA running through our streets and schools, our online forums and local politics, this community elected two more Dems to the Township Committee. And baby steps of change be damned; we did so resoundingly. From the top of the ticket and Mikie Sherrill, down to two local and “regular guys” — Brett Hodges and John Tompkins — who took a chance and put their names in a very uncertain contest, our residents voted blue in Every. Single. Race.

For the first time in nearly one hundred years, Bernards is a true blue community.  We have leadership determined to serve openly and collegially, committed to giving voice to a variety and diversity of residents and their concerns. We now need to reject partisan slurs and bickering, name calling and leaders who push agendas that are contrary to our community’s interests. Your vote for local elections is just as important as your vote for national contests. Please join the BTDC in doing everything in your power to maintain the Democratic momentum in November.