The Washington Post reports:

While many find the explicit racism of the messages troubling, they see the victories of the three candidates as proof that, in at least two diverse communities in New Jersey, voters have banished anti-immigrant rhetoric into the sidelines — even as such sentiments, at times, dominate national conversations.

“It’s kind of similar to some of the national rhetoric around white people losing power, kind of a last effort at holding on to power in an increasing diverse, multicultural and multiracial society,” Scott Novakowski, associate counsel at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, told The Washington Post. “It’s important to emphasize the strong message that was sent with these folks winning the elections in terms of what that says about their community and New Jersey as a state.”

This piece was also published in Independent.