I was not planning on writing about politics today, but as I worked on a post about the Audra Winter mess (forthcoming), I couldn’t stop thinking about the gubernatorial election that is going on in my state as we speak. If you’re in New Jersey, make sure you go out and vote, preferably Democrat/Mikie Sherrill.

Sherrill was not the person I was backing in the democratic primary over the summer. She is, at best, a mid, moderate democrat. I flipflopped back and forth between Steve Fulop and Ras Baraka up until the day I filled out my ballot, and if nothing else, this primary taught me why we need ranked choice voting in New Jersey. I think, if we had it, we would have a more progressive candidate running for governor.

At the same time, it is not the time to not vote or to vote for everyone but Sherrill. Unfortunately, some elections are meh versus an absolute horror. The republican candidate has run (and lost) repeatedly, but with each campaign, he has aligned more closely with the current president’s agenda. He is anti-queer people, anti-trans people, anti-people of color (his ads are like 99% white people), anti-choice, and his ads try to paint Sherrill as an air-headed woman, which means he is misogynistic as well, big surprise.

As someone with a working uterus (unfortunately) and a partner on HRT, I am terrified that he will be elected. Sherrill has been ahead in the polls consistently but not by that much. This is certainly not a runaway, and as someone said, “Women will vote for misogynists, but misogynists will never vote for women.” New Jersey is a decently liberal state with protections for marginalized people, BUT a lot of them are only edicts from the governor, not anything codified in state law, which would make them harder to get rid of. A republican as governor could rip those protections away within days of getting into office, and I am so worried for trans people, women, anyone that ICE could target.

I think a lot of people assume New Jersey is a thoroughly blue state, but it isn’t. We have a lot of republicans, and my own town is grossly red despite how diverse it is. Because people assume New Jersey will lean democrat no matter what, the fear is that younger people won’t go out and vote. I actually gave my students off for Election Day, so they can go vote, even though we have early voting and mail-in ballots in our state. I want there to be zero excuse for them to do their civic duty. The other reason I give them off on election day is because in past years, the anxiety level has been so high that teaching them feels pointless. Between me and them, we are ten seconds from exploding, and giving them the space to vote and decompress is more important than one lesson on writing essays.

The takeaway from this is to vote with the rights of the most marginalized person you know in mind. Who will care for the sick best? Who will protect reproductive rights if someone needs an abortion? Who will protect the undocumented people in your communities the best? Who will pushback against those who want to take your rights away? And even if they aren’t the most liberal person, who won’t stand in the way if the legislature wants to be more liberal than they are? It is worth preserving what we have and striving for better than spitefully letting things go to shit because your ideal candidate isn’t running. It sucks, but when the choices are meh and horrible, meh is the ethical choice, especially if the meh candidate probably won’t stand in the way of other people’s right to have a good life.

If you’re eligible to vote in NJ, please go vote for the democratic candidates in your area, do research on your school board candidates, and encourage others to vote as well. And if you’re in NYC, vote Mamdani (because I wish he was my governor instead of your mayor).