Some towns in New Jersey elect either Democratic or Republican mayors and councils ... and that's about it. The same party can stay in power for decades.

Sometimes the New Jersey Legislature is controlled by one party or the other for decades, too.

But that’s not the case when it comes to electing a governor in the Garden State.

Occasionally a candidate will win a second term in office, like Gov. Chris Christie did, but once the individual completes his or her first or second term in office, a candidate from the other political party typically winds up winning the next election.

In fact, the last time two candidates from the same political party were elected governor one after the other, after the first person served at least one full term in office, was 1961. In that year, Democrat Richard Hughes was victorious, after fellow Democrat Robert Meyner served two terms as governor.

Democrat Jon Corzine followed Democrat Jim McGreevey as governor, but McGreevey resigned after disclosing he was a “gay American” in November of 2004, three years after he had been elected.

“In the two-party system, the name of the game is 'Throw the Bums Out,' so the incumbents go out," said Peter Woolley, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. "The referendum is always on the incumbent or the incumbent party, and the voters want something new."

He noted voters, when they go to the polls, are typically sending a simple message.

It's all a matter of “'I like what’s been going on' or 'I don’t like what’s been going on,' or 'I fear the alternative,' or 'I don’t fear the alternative,'” he said.

So in other words, even with a wide variety of issues that are debated, the race for governor “is really at the individual level a very simple decision based on a very simple calculation — 'Do I approve or disapprove of what’s going on around me?'”

Ben Dworkin, a political science professor at Rider University, said with so many complicated problems facing the state of New Jersey, it’s rare to find any politician that can really make a difference.

“There’s always a sense of wanting to try something new. 'They’ve had their chance, now we’re looking for a different kind of leadership,'” he said.

Dworkin noted the governor of New Jersey is a very powerful, public position, and voters will give someone “four years, maybe eight years in that party, and once that is done, they are more than willing to look at the other party to see if there’s a new option.”

He added over an extended period of time “it’s hard for any administration to keep things going, you run out of energy, you run out of ideas, and even if you have new ideas and energy the people are ready to look for a different voice.”

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