Politics in Wharton, NJ is a lively topic of discussion among the town's residents. The small town is part of Morris County and holds a nonpartisan mayoral election every four years. The current mayor, Carolann Garafola, was elected in 2020 after her predecessor retired. All municipal elections are non-partisan and held on the second Tuesday of November in odd-numbered years. In addition to the mayor, other local politicians include three councilmembers who are responsible for making decisions about local policies, budgets, taxes and ordinances for the benefit of Wharton's citizens. These positions are also filled through nonpartisan elections every four years, with each incumbent's term expiring at different times so that at least one seat is up for grabs each year. As a community full of engaged citizens, discussions about local politics often take center stage when it comes to conversations around town.
The political climate in Wharton, NJ is leaning liberal.
Morris County, NJ is leaning liberal. In Morris County, NJ 51.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 46.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Morris county flipped Democratic, 51.1% to 46.9%.
Morris county flipped Democratic after voting Republican in the previous five Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Wharton, NJ is leaning liberal.
Morris County, New Jersey is leaning liberal.
New York-Newark-Jersey City Metro Area is strongly liberal.
New Jersey is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Wharton, New Jersey: R R r R r d
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Wharton, NJ
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 1,348 contributions totaling $58,671 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $44 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 165 contributions totaling $26,864 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $163 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)