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,
New Jersey State Police local law enforcement efforts, maintenance of criminal records and identification systems and regulation of certain commerce such as firearms ownership. Many municipalities in southern and north-western New Jersey lack local police departments, therefore the state police have the primary responsibility for providing police services to these towns for a yearly assessed nominal fee paid to the state government. The New Jersey State Police is also charged with the responsibility of protecting the Governor of New Jersey and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, as well as the President of the New Jersey Senate and the Speaker of the New Jersey General