Voters look to the midterms to solve political division

By: Jack Thuon

New Jersey is projected to have multiple tightly contested elections for seats in the House of Representatives. American University senior Sam Bohn does not expect one in his district.

“I’m from a very blue district,” Bohn said. “So as long as they have that big ‘D’ next to their name, they could be dead and people would still vote for them.”

The 1st Congressional District of New Jersey, which includes the cities of Camden and Bohn’s hometown of Merchantville, is currently represented by Democrat Donald Norcross. Political site Fivethirtyeight gives Rep. Norcross a greater than 99 percent chance of winning reelection.

Although Bohn does not expect a tight race in his own district, he says he is keeping an eye on the rest of the state, especially on candidates focused on gun control, climate change and sexual assault.

But above all, Bohn is looking to the Democratic Party to solve problems of partisanship and trust.

“I’d say unity across the aisle and trust in your representative,” Bohn said when asked about the biggest issue facing the country. And so far, he is unimpressed with some Democrats mindset headed into the final weeks before the election.

“Everyone always says from the Democratic side ‘take back the House,’ but I don’t really like that phrase. It shows a very limited view, you know? For me it shows that their views stop on election day in terms of what we want to do as a party. I want greater reform. I feel like just taking back the House won’t solve any of the problems we’re facing as a country in terms of, like, political division.”

However, Bohn is confident bridges can be built by sticking to issues that Americans care about.