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,
2017 New Jersey state government shutdown midnight July 1 when the old budget ended, the governor signed an executive order that immediately stopped numerous non-essential government functions. State functions that ceased immediately included state parks and New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission offices. The New Jersey State Police, psychiatric hospitals, the New Jersey Lottery, and NJ Transit were not affected by the shutdown. The shutdown was notable for closing several of the Jersey Shore's beaches, a major tourist attraction, for much of the Independence Day weekend. Island Beach State Park and the Liberty Island ferry were closed during what would normally be one of their busiest holidays;