All five acknowledged aspirants to the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey took part in last weekend’s Monmouth County Democratic convention.

In this Politicker NJ article, reporter Max Pizarro explains why gubernatorial hopefuls (state Senate President Steve Sweeney, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy, state Senator Ray Lesniak and Assemblyman John Wisniewski) attended the event.

In a nutshell: Monmouth County looks like it might be a pivot point in New Jersey’s 2017 gubernatorial election. The Democratic rout of a strong team of GOP legislators in the 2015 election has changed the dynamics in what was once considered a Republican stronghold. Serious gubernatorial hopefuls see the need to have a presence there.