Photo by Philip Sean Curran
By Philip Sean Curran
Norma Rosenbloom was active in Democratic politics in Monmouth County for decades, until she finally decided she would run for political office this year in Shrewsbury.
At 93 years old.
She is among 30 Democratic women in Monmouth running for local, county or state office in 2019, a fact celebrated at the county’s Democratic Women’s Caucus during its seventh annual fundraiser Sept. 19 at Branches Catering in West Long Branch. The guest list included state Assemblywoman Joann Downey, freeholder candidate Moira Nelson, Atlantic Highlands Mayor Rhonda LeGrice and many others. The event, raising campaign funds to support female candidates from Monmouth who attended the fundraiser, was expected to bring in around $15,000.
“We’re raising funds because women need to have resources,” said the Rev. Veverly Wyche, chair woman of the caucus. “And so our mission is education, empowerment and economic resources.”
She said the caucus has been growing ever since its founding in 2012. She attributed that to “women having a desire to get up and be leaders.”
“We believe that we are strong leaders and that we are mothers, we are teachers, we’re educators, we are those who organize in the community,” she said. “And so we believe that it’s our time to rise and be leaders.”
Four Democratic women – Downey, Malini Guha, Allison Friedman and Barbara Singer – are running for seats in the state Assembly. Nelson is the only candidate for countywide office, while the rest are running for municipal office around Monmouth.
“Women have kind of been left out of the whole process a lot,” said Lucille Lo Sapio, a candidate for Hazlet Township Committee. “And maybe things would be better right now if we had more women” in office, she said.
Rosenbloom grew up in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn and then later the Bronx, in a neighborhood that was a short walk to Yankee Stadium, before meeting her husband and moving to New Jersey in 1946.
“I remember looking for the Democratic people…when I moved here because I was always a Democrat since I was in high school,” she said.
Over her 93 years, she raised a family, practiced law and continued to stay active in politics, even serving as a delegate to the 1976 Democratic national convention, where Jimmy Carter was nominated for president. Rosenbloom, honored at the fundraiser with the women’s suffrage award, said she is a Democrat “because I believe in their policies.”
“Isn’t that wonderful?” she said of all the women running in Monmouth this year. “Oh, I think it’s fabulous.”
Among those candidates is Nelson, who grew up in Monmouth County, moved away and then returned. Now a resident of Asbury Park, she is running for one of the two freeholder seats up for grabs.
“I’ve known for quite some time that I wanted to run for office,” said Nelson, who wore a shirt with the message “the future is female” on the front. “And this felt like the right time. My roots are here in Monmouth County.”
The night’s celebration marked the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. Many in the crowd wore white in honor of the suffragettes.
In 2018, a record number of women, more than 100, were elected to Congress, including two from New Jersey, incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) and newcomer Mikie Sherill (D- 12). Yet in a deep blue part of the country where Democrats control all the levers of state government, political power in New Jersey is squarely in the hands of men, namely the governor, the state Senate president and the speaker of the Assembly.
“There should be more women,” Lo Sapio said. “That’s why I’m glad that our lieutenant governor (Sheila Oliver) is a woman and a woman of color. Change takes time. Just because people are Democrats doesn’t mean they’re always right.”
“We need more female representation,” Nelson said when asked about the state of women in politics in New Jersey. “We need more women at all levels of government.”
Aimee Humphreys, the co-chair woman of the caucus, recalled running for Fair Haven Council in 2014, when she was in her mid-60s. She said she never expected to run for office, but her victory that year made her the first Democrat in a quarter of a century to a win a seat on the governing body of Fair Haven.
In retrospect, she said, her time in public office was “a learning experience.”
“It’s time for women to have their place and their voice,” she said.
Rosenbloom said she is not expecting to win her race in a Republican stronghold. But her message, she said, is to encourage fellow women to run for office and run again if they lose the first time.
