Camden County is one of the toughest places in New Jersey to be a Republican. It may be one of the toughest places in the country to be a Republican. It’s so reliably Democrat that it’s like paradise for the Democratic party machine.

An Assemblyman resigns. No problem, replace him with another Democrat of their choosing. A School Board member resigns. No problem, just replace him.

But, could there be trouble on the horizon for the machine Democrats? After a Haddon Township Commissioner was forced to resign he was replaced with a Democrat from the progressive wing of the party.

It appears the South Jersey Progressive Democrats are organized. They are actively recruiting progressives to take on the machine Democrats in Camden County.

Reading their recruitment piece on social media I have to wonder if they borrowed some of their talking points from local Republicans. “You support open, responsive, and fiscally responsible government over party boss/machine politics; you support ending pay to play and ending corporate welfare/favoritism for political machine insiders” sound a lot like the same words that have been coming out of the mouths of Camden County Republicans for years.

There are also allegations of intimidation

Frankly, I don’t think staffers showing up at a meeting is “intimidation.” More likely, it’s closer to a campaign sending a tracker to monitor the opposition. Intimidation or trackers, either way, it appears the progressives in Camden County are fighting back.

Who knows, maybe the machine Democrats now having to fight on two fronts means things could start to change for Camden County Republicans.

To the progressives: welcome to being a part of the loyal opposition in Camco. Keep fighting!