John Van Vliet

This is the debut of the New Jersey History and Heritage Spotlight, a new Insider NJ publication dedicated to New Jerseyans of all political affiliations and backgrounds. At a time when our country, but also our state, is intensely polarized, it is the opinion of this writer that one can easily become dismayed, wondering at the strength of the fabric of our society. With a 24-hour news cycle, and a media apparatus which is compelled to hold the attention of viewers and readers in order to be profitable, sometimes things can just seem bleak. And some things well and truly are bleak, and we forget about the countless non-newsworthy acts of kindness and constructive endeavors that hold the aforementioned fabric of our society together despite it all. The proliferation of social media has led to the general democratization of media content, and as a result, the saturation of “information” (and, unfortunately, both malicious and unintended misinformation) is all but inescapable. With the reality an increasingly anxious, smartphone-addicted population finds itself in, it becomes more and more incumbent on individuals to be able to discern fact from fiction, truth from myth—or its snickering cousin: propaganda. Responsible and ethical journalists are and ought to be the stewards of the truth—“just the facts”—but with countless, often conflicting voices bombarding people through their screens, credibility often comes into question with doubts eroding what was once unquestionably understood as legitimate and reliable.

Early voting is relatively new to New Jersey, but it seems like it has taken hold among Garden State residents. Whatever happened to the good old tradition of showing up on a Tuesday Election Day, casting a ballot, and leaving the polling place having done one’s civic duty? Absentee voting had been and remains more[...]

Senate-hopeful U.S. Rep. Andy Kim joined with CD-9 Democrats in Paterson Friday evening to drum up some more Get Out The Vote enthusiasm. As far as the House is concerned, CD-9 sees a race where the late Congressman Bill Pascrell’s successor, State Senator Nellie Pou, is facing Republican challenger Billy Prempeh, who had faced Pascrell[...]

State Senator Nelida “Nellie” Pou just got a new title: US Representative-elect, beating out Republican challenger Billy Prempeh–although only just.

Following the 2024 General Election, where Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and is set to return to the White House, Insider NJ takes a look at the quakes that shook the Garden State's political scene.

Following the 2024 General Election, where Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and is set to return to the White House, Insider NJ takes a look at the quakes that shook the Garden State’s political scene. Who’s Up? Representative Tom Kean, Jr. – the son of former New Jersey governor Tom Kean defended his[...]

The Hispanic shift to the right in the 2024 election, compared to 2020 when Joe Biden overwhelmingly had their support, should worry every Democratic chair in presumably blue New Jersey as well as their neighbors in culturally diverse New York City and cities in eastern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was, of course, the key to the 2024 election, a critical swing state which, in the end, turned out for former President Donald Trump. Within all these metropolitan hubs, however, there has been a notable growth of support from Latino voters, men specifically, compared to previous elections. Democrats have been losing ground with a key demographic.

In his third election campaign, Donald Trump promised to implement a massive deportation program that would target millions of undocumented migrants living in the United States. To that end, the president-elect announced Tom Homan, former head of ICE, as his choice for “border czar,” tasked to oversee federal agents rounding up undocumented migrants, many of[...]

Bergen County, New Jersey's most populous county with over 957,000 residents, typically embodies moderation with a solid Democratic Party. Case in point, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, serving since 2018 in CD-5, built his brand around the idea of bipartisanship and across-the-aisle cooperation. Thus far, it has paid off for him, even surviving the Red Wave of 2024, which dramatically crashed over traditionally blue New Jersey. Even a Democratic stronghold, like Bergen, shifted notably redder from 2020. Four years ago, Joe Biden handily carried Bergen—along with the rest of New Jersey—against Donald Trump. On election day 2024, however, Vice President Kamala Harris barely captured New Jersey as a whole, and the Bergen map saw multiple flips from blue to red. Neighboring Passaic County was a bloodbath for the Democratic Party, even though Democratic U.S. Rep.-elect Nellie Pou eked out a win, Chairman John Currie's battle lines retreated throughout the entirety of Passaic, leaving only a blue island of Paterson, Haledon, and Prospect Park to deliver majorities for Harris.

Nowhere else quite encapsulates the microcosm of American civilization and its consequences within the scope of New Jersey like the annual League of Municipalities event held in Atlantic City. In terms of the calendar, it is keenly placed. Just after the national or state frenzy of a general election, depending on the year, and just prior to Thanksgiving, the League is at a confluence of contradictory emotional flows. It is a celebration of New Jersey work while also a demonstration of power, coming off the high or low of the most consequential political ritual that affects them all, and assessing that consequence.