Longtime journalist and data wrangler. Lifelong Jersey girl. Proud mom and fan of Bruuuuuce. Crocheting is my zen.
New Jersey
Joined January 2011
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Colleen O'Dea retweeted
Looks like the GOP is meddling in NJ-7 to boost a “Stop Israel’s Genocide” candidate over Dem Rebecca Bennett.
The super PAC, Peace NJ, is brand-new and has almost no online presence but is run by a Republican compliance guy.
(h/t @democratNJ who first caught this this morning)
Yesterday's appellate court arguments in the NJ school segregation case made for an interesting almost 3 hours. My report for Gothamist: gothamist.com/news/are-nj-sc…
Some other striking arguments:
Plainfield was the subject of a 1965 segregation case. 60 years later, its enrollment is 99% non-white, which plaintiff's attorney Michael Stein called a result of "the state's astonishing failure to act."
NJ Deputy AG: Plaintiffs' do not county Asian students, who make up 10% of enrollment and calls their analyses involving white v Black and Hispanic an "arbitrary metric." Judge asks, "Doesn't it matter that these groups have historically been discriminated against?"
NJ Deputy AG: There's been no testimony about the benefits to students attending their local schools. "Maybe the students in Newark like being in Newark ... The former Abbott districts all have free preschool ... Maybe they have better English as a Second Language programs."
To the suggestion that charter schools can help alleviate segregation, the plaintiffs said, "72% has been the state's charter schools have fewer than 10% white students. They are not designed today to be part of the solution."
To the state's argument of a number of existing programs to address the problem, plaintiffs said they're "not so significant." 3K of 1.3M total students participate in interdistrict choice. "That is not the heroic efforts that the state describes."
The deputy AG said white students make up only 36.5% of public school enrollment. There are more Hispanic students than white students. You can't just look at a percentage "and make a substantial finding of constitutional harm in one district."
Plaintiffs criticism of the trial court ruling, which included the statement that there is "no practical solution" to unconstitutional segregation: "It's a very troubling statement to find that there's no practical solution when essentially none has ever been tried."
Plaintiffs' attorney Larry Lustberg on NJ's having no statistical definition of segregation: "It would be a wonderful thing if the state really cared enough about this problem to have proposed a standard, but they don't. Their data shows ... egregious discrimination."
Spending on NJ Congressional races already exceeds $100M. More than 1/4 of that in crucial CD7 @KeanForCongress v @RebeccaForNJ07 race. $29M+ there a new NJ House record. Still 12 days til the election. My 1st piece for InsiderNJ insidernj.com/a-deep-dive-in…
Colleen O'Dea retweeted
Jeff Van Drew's NJ2 goes from Safe to Likely Republican, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball:
NEW Crystal Ball: 28 House rating changes as tally of seats at least leaning Dem surpasses both 218 as well as tiny majorities of the last three cycles
centerforpolitics.org/crysta…
😂 to the idea of @CoryBooker losing.
😡 to fake and misleading polls
Colleen O'Dea retweeted
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is headlining a Democratic National Committee event in Washington D.C. tomorrow night with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, I’m told.
I also interviewed Sherrill about the the last few months and what lies ahead. More in tomorrow’s Mikie’s World.
Colleen O'Dea retweeted
Someone broke the law by using the Roxbury warehouse as a detention center.
And I hope the judge throws whoever made that decision in jail.
NYT reports 2 GOP PACs effectively ceding @KeanForCongress race in NJ to @RebeccaForNJ07 in order to spend money on other vulnerable candidates
nytimes.com/2026/10/13/us/po…
Colleen O'Dea retweeted
Despite democrats winning the Governor’s race by 14 points, losing republican seats in the legislature and and watching the polling for Trump spiraling down, some want to criticize me instead of accepting realty and charting a winning path. Hateful attacks change nothing
In NJ Senate debate, Justin Murphy definitely not the usual candidate. Seems mostly unrehearsed. Called out Israeli settlers in West Bank who have attacked Palestinians. Willing to say when he doesn't know something (all Trump cabinet members).
Colleen O'Dea retweeted
In 2020 I sued for a reporter to get his DWI report which showed a .34 on blood test. The state did not pursue the charges
nj.com/hunterdon/2020/02/tes…
Gov. Mikie Sherrill has nominated a Republican county commissioner from Hunterdon to the Superior Court.
newjerseyglobe.com/governor/…
