NJ Dems are crushing my family — and Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill could make us flee

The policy hands that are strangling New Jersey residents like me belong to the Democratic Party — and before Tuesday’s election, I had hope we might finally breathe again.

We feel the bruises around our necks with every electric bill we open and every property-tax check we write.

Yet year after year we keep rewarding the very people who’ve assaulted our financial potential.

Jack Ciatterelli was a common-sense candidate who understood that a return to sensible tax and climate policies is a must for New Jerseyans’ survival — and was our greatest advocate for ending the mistreatment we’ve endured for decades.

But his loss to Democrat Mikie Sherrill signals to voters like me struggling to make ends meet that help is not on the way.

“I know these are tough times. I know not everyone voted for me,” Sherrill said in her acceptance speech. “But I’m working for everyone. Every single one of you. When we all do better, we all do better. So tomorrow begins a new day.”

Yet the rest of her words were laser-focused on politics, not practical problem-solving.

“We take oath to a constitution, not a king,” Sherrill scolded President Donald Trump. “We have chosen liberty, the very foundation of democracy.”

I’ve lived in New Jersey for more than 25 years, and only recently have I found myself petrified to open my PSE&G bill.

It feels like no one with any form of authority cares that Jersey residents experience this monthly fear.

Using your air conditioner in the summer is a fiscal death sentence for New Jerseyans.

This summer I trained myself to bear the heat indoors — because the previous year I paid a king’s ransom for daring to feel as comfortable as one in my own home.

As an independent, I want both parties to fight for the people’s best interests.

So for me, this election wasn’t about clever slogans but about attending to what ails us.

We were inundated with pro-Sherrill television advertisements that did not acknowledge our pain, but instead used Ciatterelli as a Trump avatar, as she sought to whip her Democratic base into an unhinged frenzy.

She consistently neglected to note how barely anyone can climb the economic ladder in our state because it’s covered in decades-old Democratic snake oil.

So it appears that under Gov. Sherrill, New Jersey will keep on making the same mistakes.

Her promise to freeze energy costs is empty: She will continue moving away from reliable energy sources toward radically inefficient renewable-energy projects, like more wind turbines off the Jersey coastline.

Our high property taxes will continue to force out longtime residents, and will keep the next generation priced out of the market.

New Jersey Democrats continue to display no real urgency about boosting Gen Z’s economic prospects, locking them out of the American dream of homeownership.

However, the Democrats will stay on their course of protecting people who are in our state and country illegally — maintaining a cheap labor force for the corporate donors that run their warehouses in our state.

They’ll keep turning a blind eye to the massive illegal work force that’s stifling job opportunities for New Jersey citizens, as Sherrill continues the absurdity of “sanctuary state” status.

She will double down on what has failed us.

With those in charge far more concerned about fulfilling the policy delusions of progressive elitists than recognizing the strife of the working class, the future of my state appears incredibly bleak.

Meanwhile, my entire extended family has joined the ongoing out-migration, choosing to leave New Jersey for affordable, prosperous states.

They’ve decided it’s no longer worth staying in a place run by people who don’t care that you’re on your last breath.

I won’t root for Sherrill to fail, and I would love for her to prove me wrong over these next four years.

But our lack of fiscal oxygen has turned our faces as blue as the party we keep supporting.

And as the tightening grip on our economic necks becomes more unbearable, the asphyxiation will make even more of us seek escape to greener pastures outside the Garden State.

Adam B. Coleman is the author of “The Children We Left Behind” and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing.