Norcross' district is a deep blue district that includes Camden and most of the wealthy Philly suburbs in NJ. OTOH, Gloucester is much more of a swing county, it has swung 16-17-18-20-21 at least. I think Gloucester (and other parts of South Jersey, especially AC) have been feeling the pinch, even before COVID, whereas as places like Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, Voorhees and that area is probably more in line economically with say Somerset County, where Dems actually flipped a Senate seat. You have a large percentage working from home now in white collar jobs where the "great Resignation" is helping boost salaries. I think there's a feeling in some of these places in South Jersey that Murphy wasn't too worried about them, even though through when things were shut down, NJ had less strict rules than PA and NY.
How all of this effects RU remains to be seen, but it does seem like there's at least a majority in both the state and legislature, even if not a big one, that's behind making RU a "normal" strong academically, strong athletically, state U that has its just place in the B1G.
I have noticed through COVID RU for example has a lower percentage of admitted versus that school in Central PA and higher SAT scores as well. The idea that COVID rules would hurt the school have not come to bear.