Let’s hope Jersey voters are smart enough to avoid the catastrophic decision woke Chicagoans made when they elected Chicago Teachers Union’s lobbyist Brandon Johnson as mayor in 2023. Johnson’s campaign was almost entirely union-funded.

He now serves one master – and it isn’t Chicago residents – but the Union. As could have been predicted, buyer’s remorse quickly set in. A poll last month had Johnson’s approval rating at 6.6% – after he tried to raise taxes after promising not to.

Now, the 200,000-member New Jersey Education Association is trying to duplicate this coup in the Garden State. Politico reports that, “an independent expenditure group run by former union leaders say they will spend $35 million in the primary for governor” to elect NJEA President Sean Spiller.

Spiller is a progressive’s dream. He just finished a term as mayor of affluent Montclair, easily the most “woke” town in New Jersey. He backs rent control and automatic pay raises for government workers and militantly opposes school choice. During COVID, NJEA and Spiller urged term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy to keep schools closed. Test scores have plummeted in Jersey.

If Spiller wins, our advice to our New Jersey friends is that the state is officially irredeemable: Get out of town while you still can.