New Jersey holds primaries Tuesday in the race for governor, where President Trump has already jumped in with an endorsement. The state has a Democratic governor but could see a shift this fall.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Here is a fun fact about New Jersey. The state constitution in 1947 specified off-year elections for governor so they wouldn’t be overshadowed by presidential races. So it is one of only two states holding governor’s races this year, along with Virginia. The New Jersey primary is Tuesday, and there are a lot of contenders to replace outgoing Democratic Governor Phil Murphy. And the result could say something about how voters view the Trump White House. Nancy Solomon covers New Jersey politics for member station WNYC, and she’s going to talk about this with us now. Hey, Nancy.
NANCY SOLOMON, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: So let’s start with this. It sounds like there are a lot of candidates, and it’s going to be a hard-to-predict election day.
SOLOMON: Yeah, there are 11 main candidates, and turnout is expected to be low. So that means a very small number of voters could decide this, especially on the Democratic side, which is much more competitive. People think of New Jersey as a reliably blue state, but that’s not true when it comes to electing a governor. Whenever one party has held the seat for two terms – and that’s what we have right now with Governor Phil Murphy – the other party has won the election. And that’s going back to 1962. So, you know, and one of the other things to keep in mind about New Jersey is that there are as many registered independents as there are Democrats, and they tend to be less engaged in the primary, but the general election will very much hinge on them.
DETROW: So President Trump has already weighed in on the Republican side, and that in itself is pretty interesting because it means he is paying close attention to New Jersey, which says something, right?
SOLOMON: Yeah, I think it really does. He endorsed the Republican front-runner, former state assemblyman and third-time candidate Jack Ciattarelli, and that says a lot. In 2016, Ciattarelli called Trump a charlatan and embarrassing. When Ciattarelli ran again in 2021, he didn’t even seek an endorsement. But, you know, he didn’t criticize Trump either at that time. But this time around, Ciattarelli made a strong play and got Trump’s endorsement. Here’s a clip from what the president said on a campaign call this past week.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It’s a big deal. It’s being watched actually all over the world because New Jersey is ready to pop out of that blue horror show.
SOLOMON: Another candidate, conservative talk show host Bill Spadea, is actually closer with Trump, but it looks like the president thought he had a better chance of winning in November with Ciattarelli.
DETROW: Let’s talk about the Democratic side for a moment because this primary comes a moment when the party is really struggling with how to oppose Trump administration policies. Is that a big issue in the primary for governor?
SOLOMON: Yes. All six candidates are talking about how they’ll resist Trump. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has gotten a lot of attention for showing up at an immigration detention center and getting arrested by ICE officers. Mikie Sherrill, a moderate congresswoman, makes the case that she’s the one who’s been on the front lines in Washington fighting Trump. And she voted to impeach the president when she was just newly elected to a very purple district in New Jersey, where Trump had actually won in 2016.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop – he’s courting progressives and pretty much the left-wing of the party, and he kind of criticizes Governor Murphy and says he’s taken too conciliatory of a tone towards Trump, and he’ll be the fighter and the political reformer. You know, and I’ve noticed, even in the past few weeks that Josh Gottheimer, another member of Congress who’s probably the furthest to the right of all the Democrats, has shifted his rhetoric from affordability and lowering taxes to fighting Trump.
The remaining two candidates – former state senator Steve Sweeney and teachers’ union president Sean Spiller – they both have legitimate shots at this as well. Sweeney has the support of a powerful political machine in South Jersey, and Spiller has $40 million from the teachers’ union.
DETROW: I mean, besides President Trump, what are the other issues at stake in this race?
SOLOMON: You know, gubernatorial elections in New Jersey are super important. It’s one of the most powerful governorships in the country in terms of what the governor can actually do. The Democrats are talking about the trains not running on time, the state’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes, building more affordable housing. The Republican front-runner, Ciattarelli, says he’ll end immigrant sanctuary policies and also shift school funding from urban districts to suburban ones. So these are some of the key issues they’re looking at.
DETROW: WNYC’s Nancy Solomon. Thanks so much.
SOLOMON: Thank you.
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