does the makeup of elec gets sorted out so too will the makeup of New Jersey's legislature yesterday was the deadline to file for the primary election in June so who's throwing their name in the ring and who's backing out of New Jersey's political scene well this year the legislature is in a shake-up with about 20 lawmakers retiring and a new legislative map that's pitting previous allies against each other and there's a large swell of female legislators leaving their posts senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has all the latest on who we can expect to see fighting for a seat in New Jersey's 221st legislature you know you can't take any of this stuff for granted that's why it gets so intense uh when these races start to kick off but he's not in the Starting Gate this year former assemblyman Ralph Caputo joined the rush of incumbents exiting Trenton as all 120 legislative seats go up for grabs this June's Jersey primary opened up opportunities for dozens of new faces partly because the freshly redrawn legislative map helped persuade more than 20 incumbents like Caputo to opt out the map is everything I think every one of them have an individual personal reason they're not one in the same uh but it all starts with the map it's going to be the largest class of freshmen that we've had in 16 years I think most voters would probably view uh um an infusion of New Perspectives as a good thing Ryder universities Mike erasmussen says this primary portenzo legislative makeover but it's unlikely to alter the balance of power where Democrats now control both houses is Republican senator Steve orajo another incumbent who's retiring envisions an uphill battle for his party we're going to work hard at it but there is I think we have more competitive districts um in with this map on the state level for the legislature than we did on the last map without a doubt Advocates pushing for more diverse candidates however scanned the primary list and express disappointment pointing out New Jersey is a majority minority state with a 69 percent white male legislature I was hoping to you know see more Latinos more um uh Asian Americans um more women um and I don't see those uh those communities reflected in in the candidates that have signed up to run Latina Civic packs Laura Maddow says political parties need to step up actively recruit and support minority candidates meanwhile New Jersey which ranked in the middle of the pack Nationwide in terms of female legislators lost ground this cycle with incumbents retiring says Watchdog Gene sinstack the concern for us is the largest um group of women who have left the legislature any one election cycle so New Jersey's been doing a lot better in terms of our representation for women in the legislature wait we're going to lose nine of them right off the bat and so you have to work even harder to build a bench in some districts incumbents run unopposed but the primary deadline did bring some surprises in South Jersey's District three District three and uh enter um versus uh Beth Sawyer is clearly going to be one for the ages incumbent Republican assembly woman Beth Sawyers running for challenging incumbent Senator Ed Durr driver who pulled off a sensational upset of incumbent Senate President Democrat Steve Sweeney jurors Advantage County backing a senator has three lines and he's got the support of our caucus as well the new map merged boundaries in District 27 Essex County pitting two veteran Democrats Senators dick Cody and Nia Gill against each other in a primary Battle of iconic incumbents Cody's got County backing in this one he's well funded and he's got big name recognition and then on the other hand Senator Gill has been been challenged before and she's been successful the race to remake the state house now begins in Earnest I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News foreign