Sweeney’s 2025 path narrows with Norcross ‘in the backseat,’ Democrats say

Steve Sweeney faced a fight back to power the moment an unknown trucker deposed him as Senate president in 2021.

Now that his biggest backer, George Norcross, is stepping back from his leading role in state politics, Sweeney’s challenge may be that much greater should he run for governor in 2025, several high-ranking Democrats said.

The election to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy may be 2 1/2 years away, but the jockeying for party support that is critical to success in a primary is very much under way. And that could be problematic for Sweeney since Norcross said in an interview with POLITICO last week he’s been “sitting in the backseat” of power the last two years.