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Last month, a wave of progressive candidates surged in New York states primary, ousting longtime Democratic incumbents in the House of Representatives, the state legislature, and local offices.

Tuesday, the opposite happened on the other side of the Hudson River.

In Hudson Countys primary races, a slate of progressive candidates floundered. Preliminary election results showed left-wing candidates for Senate, House, and county Freeholder seats trailing far behind incumbent Democrats, raising questions about the viability of a progressive movement in the county.

We did have a lot of momentum, but I think it is just highlighting how big of an advantage the party line is in New Jersey primaries, said Eleana Little, who challenged the party-backed Yraida Aponte-Lipski in the race for Fourth District Freeholder. Even a well-organized slate of progressive challengers has difficulty overcoming the structural advantages of the party line in the primary.

The Hudson County Board of Elections has tallied roughly one third of Hudsons mail-in ballots. Officials originally hoped to release data from 50,000 to 60,000 ballots by 8 p.m. Tuesday, but county Elections Clerk Michael Harper said the flood of mail-in ballots slowed down the counting process. Election workers counted only about 20,000 by the end of the night.

Were still here plugging away, Harper said Wednesday. Im still in the same clothes.

Harper said he doesnt expect the results, which he called a good sampling, to change dramatically, but he admitted that anything is possible.

But as the Hudson County Democratic Organizations candidates declared victory, progressives saw their hopes for a takeover dashed.

As a progressive and as a challenger, youre fighting an uphill battle, said Hector Oseguera, who mounted a primary challenge for the House of Representatives seat in New Jerseys 8th district. Tuesday nights results showed Oseguera behind incumbent Albio Sires by a three-to-one margin.

Other progressives fared similarly. In contested Freeholder races, challengers attracted just a fraction of the votes, far behind incumbents and HCDO-backed candidates. In the closest race, the Hudson County Democratic Organization-backed Freeholder Aponte-Lipski led Little by roughly 20 percentage points.

Little and Oseguera both acknowledged that outsider candidates were up against significant odds. Outsiders face well-funded opponents, often with better name recognition and a bundle of high-profile endorsements. And both singled out the party line, which arranges ballots so that local HCDO candidates are grouped with Joe Biden, as a major disadvantage.

Hudson County is a very progressive place, Oseguera said. I do think that there is a lot of viability for progressive challengers, if they have an even playing field to fight on.

But Amy DeGise, the chairwoman of the Hudson County Democratic Party, said the line was definitely not insurmountable.

I dont even see how you can call it that much of an advantage, she said. Because in the same token youre calling voters dumb, and saying that theyre not going to be able to look around the ballot and locate names. So I think its insulting to voters and people who have contributed to the democratic process and are engaged.

The HCDO welcomed challenges from the left, DeGise added.

Having the opponents that we did gave us an opportunity to highlight what were doing right and what we can work on, she said. DeGise said she was hopeful that the two wings of the Democratic party could come together in November.

Theyre our fellow Dems, DeGise said. Im really optimistic that we can all come together, even though (they) were opponents prior to the primary, that were all on the same team going forward to elect a Democrat into the White House.

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After primary rout, what is the future of the progressive movement in Hudson County? - nj.com