Democrat in 'red' Jackson: Backs Clinton (quietly)
Be sure to check out the other part of this story, Republican in "blue" Long Branch:Has Trump signs stolen.
JACKSON — As a die-hard Hillary Clinton supporter in Ocean County, Kara Gerick might as well be a Democratic needle in a Republican haystack.
In the state’s only true Republican stronghold, right-leaning political opinions are passed around like breath mints. Surrounded by conservatives and “Make America Great Again” hats, Gerick has spent much of the last six months backing out of conversations.
“I care about the topics but I don’t want the conflict,” said Gerick in the basement of her suburban home, while her husband and children ate dinner and finished homework. “I’ll remove myself from a conversation because I respect sanity more than feeling like I won an argument.”
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It's easier to simply walk away than waste time on a chat that's bound to become an argument. One co-worker asked Gerick, a teacher, if she "actually liked" President Barack Obama.
And she and her conservative-leaning father have learned to just simply joke about the 2016 campaigns.
“I just don’t want to engage. Hashtag #dontengage,” she joked.
Same difference
According to the township clerk's office, Jackson has about 34,000 registered voters, with 9,755 Republicans, 8,029 Democrats and 17,826 unaffiliated voters. But Republican presidential candidates always win in Ocean County and every local official who represents Gerick — from the township to the county to the House — is a Republican.
But her politics take a backseat to most everything else in her life. By day, she teaches language arts at the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center in Toms River. At night, she teaches English to satellite classes at Ocean County College.
For the most part, Gerick and her husband, Jason, simply try to make ends meet for their daughters on two educators’ salaries.
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The Gericks practice Hare Krishna, reciting the prayers that Gerick has tattooed across her collarbone and down her arms. They converted the basement into a "prayer room," with books, plants, prayer beads and images of deities.
Looking at her tattoos or style of dress, her students think she's either Hindu or a witch, Gerick said. So, much like politics, she avoids religious conversations with those who don't know her well.
“People who aren’t very broad-minded are more judgmental than they are willing to learn about new things,” she said.
But she is a Jackson homeowner and taxpayer and worries about the same issues as her mostly Republican neighbors. The main financial issue faced by the Gericks are property taxes, which skyrocketed when they moved from a nearby condo to their newly purchased single-family house.
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And, like most New Jerseyans, she was ticked off when legislators and Gov. Chris Christie approved a 23-cent gasoline tax hike.
She spends a chunk of her internet time in the same local Facebook groups where Jackson residents share increasingly anti-Semitic concerns about the growing Orthodox Jewish population in town.
Gerick has run into Orthodox Jewish men over the years and been turned off by what she called "stereotypical behavior." But she also worked at a Lakewood office with mostly Orthodox Jewish employees and met plenty of kind, welcoming people.
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While she's concerned about incessant real estate solicitations and proposals for Jewish schools, she draws the line at the anti-Semitic online rhetoric, which has included suggestions to place "those people" in ghettos.
"I’m not doubting the frustration. But when you say things like 'those people,' it's basically racist," Gerick said.
Kara <3 Hillary
Before Hare Krishna, the house, the kids and the husband, there was Hillary Clinton.
She felt a “kindred connection" with the Democratic nominee during high school, when Clinton was the First Lady and Gerick was a wide-eyed teenager who saw someone who "had it all together."
The infatuation only grew after she cast her first presidential vote, for Al Gore in 2000. Watching the Democratic candidate "kinda win, but then not win," was traumatizing.
She supported Clinton in her failed primary bid against Obama but, even before Clinton was named secretary of state, Gerick had no doubt she was “the woman” for the presidency.
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"There's a little piece of me that's a little starry-eyed with her. There are decisions she's made in the past that I probably wouldn't have agreed with," said Gerick, citing Clinton's changing stance on gay marriage.
From 2000 to 2013, Clinton repeatedly said she supported civil unions but defined "marriage" as between one man and one woman. In March 2013, when she announced her support for marriage equality.
"But I think it's cool that she changes her positions on things. It's not a bad thing that she did something in 2003 and now feels totally the opposite,” she said.
Gerick has thought about putting a "New Jersey for Hillary" sign on her front lawn. But while her side-street neighborhood is oddly sign-free, a few drivers have redecorated their entire bumper and trunk with homemade Trump stickers and slogans.
She admits she's afraid a Trump supporter might target her home.
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"I think our neighborhood is pretty safe but there's a little bit of me that thinks: 'These people are nuts, because who else other than a crazy person would be loudly professing their love of this man.'
"That's the more conservative side of me," Gerick joked. "I'd rather not talk about it."
Be sure to check out the other part of this story, Republican in "blue" Long Branch: Has Trump signs stolen
Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com