Politics of New Jersey moderate Republicans. The 1980s Asian-Americans immigrated to the northeastern and central parts of the state. These often voted Democratic. Today, the [[New Jersey State Legislature|state legislature]] is overwhelmingly Democratic, and has been since the early 2000s. As of December 2016, there are over 860,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Democrats do well in the populous counties closer to New York City and Philadelphia, like [[Essex County, New Jersey|Essex]] and [[Camden County, New Jersey|Camden]] counties as well as in Mercer County, which has the state capital Trenton. Republicans do well along the [[Jersey Shore]] and in northwestern counties, like [[Morris County,
History of the New Jersey State Constitution province into an independent state. The newly formed State of New Jersey elected William Livingston as its first governor on August 31, 1776—a position he would be reelected to until his death in 1790. While New Jersey was in a state of war, delegates of the Provincial Congress drafted the first constitution in a span of five days and ratified it only two days later. Its primary objective was to provide a basic governmental framework that would assume control of the territory after the collapse of royal authority and maintain civil order. This constitution served as the charter document for