TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey’s Republican governor and Democrat-led Legislature appeared in the national spotlight in 2016 more for their political misses than their hits.
Those included Chris Christie’s failed presidential campaign, a rejection of northern New Jersey casinos and no book deal for the governor while in office. But the state was also the place to deliver the Democratic Party one of its few Election Day victories, with the defeat of Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett.
A look at 2016’s misses, hits and tossups:
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MISS: CHRISTIE
The two-term Republican governor had a rough year. He quit his presidential race after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire, and then backed Republican President-elect Donald Trump before most of the rest of the party establishment.
The early support initially paid off with an appointment to chair Trump’s transition, but he has since been passed over for the vice presidential slot and demoted as chairman. So far, he’s not been announced to a White House or senior party post and pledges to finish his term, which ends in 2018.
In New Jersey, he has record-low approval ratings in recent polls and was rebuked by lawmakers when he sought key legislation to let him write a book while in office. He also saw two former members of his former inner circle convicted of felonies in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.
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MISS: CASINOS
Voters rejected a ballot measure to approve two gambling halls in northern New Jersey, as Atlantic City’s struggles were on full display. Christie’s administration took over the resort city’s finances this year, for example. The measure attracted millions in negative advertising, mostly from out-of-state casino interests who stood to lose out if New Jersey approved gambling outside Atlantic City.
But southern New Jersey lawmakers were also skeptical of the idea, and a coalition led by the two leading businessmen considering opening northern New Jersey casinos abandoned their own advertising effort after internal polls showed the measure going down to defeat.
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MISS: BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS
Christie suffered a major late-year defeat when the Democrat-led Legislature canceled votes on a bill to let the governor profit from a book deal while in office at the same time raising legislative staff, judges’ and other officials’ salaries.
At the same time, the governor was pushing a bill to end the requirement that newspapers publish government notices. The bill was also delayed for lack of support, though Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto said he wants to revisit the measure in 2017.
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MISS: MINIMUM WAGE
The leaders of the Democrat-controlled Legislature began 2016 with a pledge to pass a measure raising the state’s $8.38 minimum wage to $15 an hour. Christie vetoed the bill, but leaders had pledged a constitutional amendment to raise the wage that they failed to deliver on.
The issue gained national attention in 2016 in part because of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign that pushed for the higher wage.
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HIT: GAS TAX DEDICATION
Voters approved a constitutional amendment in November to require that every penny of the state’s 37.5-cent per gallon gas tax go only toward transportation. The issue became the focus of a negative campaign from New Jersey talk radio station 101.5 FM and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who criticized the measure as a back-door way for the state to borrow more.
The amendment’s backers, including business and labor groups along with Christie and many legislators, responded that the amendment instead ensured that future governors and legislatures couldn’t raid the transportation trust fund, which is paid for by the gas tax, for other purposes.
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HIT: DEMOCRATS
Democrat Josh Gottheimer unseated seven-term Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett. Democrats have long viewed the northern New Jersey seat as winnable, but it has proved to be a kind of white whale for the party. Until this year.
The campaign got nasty, with Gottheimer painting Garrett as anti-gay because of comments attributed to him in a news story that he declined to contribute to a Republican campaign committee because it supported gay candidates. Garrett cast Gottheimer as dishonest. The win was one of the Democratic Party’s few bright spots on election night when Trump swept to victory.
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HIT: MURPHY
Philip Murphy, the former Goldman Sachs executive and Obama administration ambassador to Germany, jumped to the top of the Democratic primary pack to succeed Christie in 2017. Murphy won the support of influential county party chairmen and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, and cleared the field of Senate President Steve Sweeney, who passed on a run. He still faces a June primary and Assemblyman John Wisniewski, among others, who is running, as well. But many experts think 2017 will be a Democratic year.
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TOSS-UP: LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Kim Guadagno, the Republican lieutenant governor, is considering a run for governor and distanced herself from the unpopular Christie by criticizing Trump. But she also opposed the gas-tax dedication, which voters rejected.
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TOSS-UP: TRANSPORTATION
Christie, Prieto and Sweeney enacted a long-sought $2 billion a year transportation trust fund for infrastructure. They cut the sales tax and estate tax and gave an increased tax credit to lower-income workers. But they also raised the state’s gas tax by 23 cents a gallon, which proved unpopular with voters.
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