overthinking with nick.

by Nick DiCicco

This past weekend, I reported at the South Jersey Victory Rally in Vineland, NJ. The event, hosted by the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, served as a way for the local community to get a chance to talk with local politicians and end the night with a speech from gubernatorial candidate and House Representative, Mikie Sherrill.

I attended as a journalist, seeking to learn more about local politics, hear what South Jersey locals think about the election, and talk to politicians. My full unbiased and more in-depth report on the speakers and what was said will be released next week, but for today, I am going to give my personal thoughts on the event, as someone going into it who was not too educated on local politics.

This was the first political rally I attended. Not only that, but this was my first time ever reporting on something and interviewing people. I was very nervous and very overdressed. Luckily, Steven Solof, a reporter for informthevotenj.com, was also in attendance. He was kind enough to introduce me to a few politicians and teach me about reporting. You can find his coverage here.

Besides my job of reporting and preparing for my news article, I mainly wanted to hear about local issues and what local politicians, including Mikie Sherill, had to say about these issues and the plans to improve them.

Did I get that?

Not really, but maybe I went in with the wrong expectations.

Before the event started, I had the privilege of having a great conversation with Tim Alexander, a lawyer who will be running for Congress next year. With my home state of NJ seeming to shift more and more red, I asked Tim why he felt like this was happening.

“Our [Democrats’] messaging is horrible.”

This answer was not surprising to me. As someone who has paid attention to national politics in the past few years, although I find Democrats’ plans and vision for America to be better, their messaging has been all over the place. Despite President Trump’s felony convictions and attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Democrats still lost not only the presidency but also Congress in 2024.

The messaging isn’t working.

With this quote in mind, I was curious how the politicians would present their message and plans for NJ that night.

There were many speakers, including state senators, assemblymen, county commissioners, and upcoming candidates. They all essentially stressed the importance of voting and called for the audience to campaign and let others know about Mikie Sherrill.

Outside of a few brief mentions of healthcare, human rights, and labor unions, there was little to be said about local issues and the solutions to them.

The most prominent talking point?

The Trump administration.

Many speakers talked about President Trump, and how Jack Ciattarelli would not fight back against the administration.

The same could be said for the main speaker, Mikie Sherrill.

While it was exciting to see Mikie Sherrill speak, she gave a very run-of-the-mill speech, sticking to her standard talking points including freezing utility hikes, bringing more power to the grid, introducing the Kids Online Safety Act, and, of course, attacking Trump and Ciattarelli.

She opened her speech by discussing the recent doxxing of her and her family, and how Ciattarelli was using this as a way to point out how she didn’t walk for graduation from the Naval Academy due to her not turning in her classmates who cheated on a test.

This portion of the speech erupted in audible anger from the crowd as Sherill used this as a way to show Ciattarelli and Trump’s integrity.

In fact, most of the crowd engagement throughout the whole night came when the speakers would talk about plans to fight back against the Trump administration.

A local politics rally where everyone seems to be concerned only with the President.

But maybe that works.

As I was talking to attendees, I noticed a trend. No one seemed to care about local politics.

One of the questions I asked attendees was, “What issues do you see facing NJ right now, and how do you think Mikie Sherrill will address them?”

“For me, the issues are more national.” one attendee told me.

Another attendee expressed their concern about freedom of speech and women’s rights being taken away by the federal government.

While some pointed out broad points such as high costs in NJ and energy, many issues people cared about pointed back to the federal government in some way.

Maybe the politicians’ talking points relating mostly to Trump are what voters want to hear.

Is it what I wanted to learn about at a local rally? Is it what fellow journalist Steven Solof wanted to hear as he tried to provide information on local politicians’ policies?

No, but unfortunately, I don’t know if we’re the average voter.

If there is one thing I’ve learned, especially from the 2024 presidential election, it’s that the average voter doesn’t have the time to do a deep dive into every issue and the candidates’ plans to fix them. If they did, I think that we would have a completely different president right now.

Clearly, the same principle applies to local elections.

Retrospectively, as a journalist, I wish I had pushed harder with questions. I wish I had better follow-ups and demanded actual answers, especially from Tim Alexander as he is running for office.

While I am frustrated that politics is simply talking points with little substance, and that I was unable to learn about local politics, I can’t say that I’m mad at the Democrats’ approach. In a political landscape filled with name-calling, lies, and personal attacks, listing policies bores people.

If we want our politicians to be more honest about their plans, we need to actually expect them to talk about them, not simply cheer at attacks from opponents.