Ai nên là Thống đốc New Jersey?

Marilyn Schlossbach, chủ nhà hàng ở Jersey Shore
Khi nhìn Jack, tôi thấy khó chịu với bất kỳ ai nằm xuống và liên kết với Trump. Là một người mẹ, một người phụ nữ, một nhà lãnh đạo cộng đồng, chúng ta nên vứt bỏ sự chính trực và các giá trị chính trị của mình ở đâu?

Mục sư Charles Boyer, người ủng hộ công lý xã hội
Tôi biết phân biệt chủng tộc trông như thế nào khi chứng kiến. Phong trào MAGA này rất nguy hiểm cho người da đen.

Dù thuế có cao hay không, tất cả những điều này đều rất quan trọng. Nhưng có quan trọng gì nếu ai đó mở cửa cho quân đội liên bang vào Trenton? Đối với cộng đồng của tôi, đây là vấn đề sống còn.

John J. Vannini, Đồng sở hữu Vannini Farms
Hầu hết người dân trong khu vực của tôi đều sống ở nông thôn. Đây là một khu vực bảo thủ. Vì vậy, mọi người nghĩ rằng Trump sẽ là một điểm cộng cho khu vực này. Ý tôi là, cá nhân tôi là một người độc lập, và tôi đã chán ngấy tinh thần đảng phái. Chúng ta cần một thống đốc và ban lãnh đạo sẵn sàng hợp tác và cùng nhau hoàn thành mọi việc.

Anna Polozzo, cựu thành viên hội đồng trường
Jack Ciattarelli có sức hút khó cưỡng. Nhưng ông ta không thể đứng lên chống lại Trump, không thể bảo vệ những gì ông ta cho là giá trị của riêng mình hay danh tiếng trước đây của một đảng viên Cộng hòa tương đối ôn hòa. Và Mikie cũng không thể tự định nghĩa mình là đối lập với Trump hay đối lập với chính đảng của mình.

Attacking Trump is a stale campaign plan. He’s been here for a while. We tried that in November 2024. It didn’t work. So Trump being bad, reinforcing it louder doesn’t make it more effective. And so I’m concerned.

In southern New Jersey we have trailer parks with all the Trump flags. So I understand the political dog whistle that Ciattarelli’s doing to get elected, meaning going along with MAGA. I’m hoping and I’m praying that he doesn’t line up the way he says with the MAGA movement.

It’s important to make sure we’re cleareyed about what the federal government can and can’t do in our state. The White House doesn’t control our property taxes. The White House doesn’t choose our rules about school funding. Most of New Jersey’s issues are controlled in the gold dome and by the governor, not the federal government.

Jack Ciattarelli, who was my assemblyman, is a nice man. But he is aligned with Trump in a very tight way, which means that all the issues, all the cuts, all the things that are happening in Washington that are going to have a big impact on the state, he effectively is agreeing to.

We think of Arizona, Texas, Florida, California as the immigration states. You want to know the No. 2 state in recent years with the greatest percentage of immigrants relative to total population? New Jersey. Politicians are blind to diversity. And when they say people are leaving, immigrants are people, too, and have built our state.

I disagree that Mikie and Jack differ that much on immigration. I think when you look at the comments that she’s made to the Policemen’s Benevolent Association, they’re both actually on very similar sides of racial justice and policing and mass incarceration issues. I think we’ll either have a Republican governor who may say yes, yes, yes to give in or to boost the president’s ego. Or we may have a Democratic governor who claims opposition and says no, no, no when it comes to interviews or when it comes to ads but in the tenacity of her policies is someone I fear may be more or less aligned with the opposition.

But I think both candidates think that it’s too controversial a topic to be specific on. The candidate that speaks best to the humanity of the issue is Mikie Sherrill.

When it comes to immigration, Sherrill has been very soft, and she has not differentiated herself as starkly enough, as much as some of us would like.

Assemblyman Ciattarelli has repeatedly said that if he wins in November, his first executive order would be to end any sanctuary policies, so New Jersey law enforcement could be forced to cooperate with the Trump administration as the masked agents round up our neighbors.

It definitely affects my area. If there’s a rumor of ICE being in our county, let alone our town, the high school is damn near bare. They are scared to death to go to school, and our administrators can’t say or do anything, because they understand.

But I believe that Jack understands that these kids are citizens and they have the right to be here. And as for the parents of the kids, I believe Jack understands how valuable they are to our economy, especially in “true” South Jersey farmland. But he also understands the importance and the process of obtaining legal documentation to be able to work and live here.

This is a bipartisan issue that is a federal issue, for sure. But as you said, we have a big MAGA thing over our head.

The New Jersey governor is one of the most powerful in the nation, because you get to appoint the attorney general. That role isn’t elected. It doesn’t look like Attorney General [Matthew] Platkin will be her A.G. And as a former prosecutor, I think she should acknowledge the value of continuity in legal challenges. Platkin has won the support of a lot of the progressive flank of the Democratic Party. He has done wonders.

The candidates are talking a lot about a law and order agenda. Today’s federal civil rights division could give a damn about Black people being abused by the police. And your only stopgap is who your attorney general is in the state.

A Sherrill administration will be much better, not just for dealing with crime and public safety, but for dealing with the root causes of crime. I’ve come to trust that she will be a far stronger and more thoughtful partner on the issues that matter most to Black communities.

I do not have complete confidence in Jack when it comes to education, especially around charter schools. But at the same time, Mikie hasn’t bothered to come out to my community and say: Hey, you know what? This is why I’m better. We’ve not seen her.

I am very concerned about the push for vouchers to take public dollars out of our schools and put them into private and religious schools, which Assemblyman Ciattarelli supports. Representative Sherrill opposes publicly funded vouchers for private and religious education, which are devastating public schools in other states.

We have so many openings for teachers in our district, and a lot of them are Spanish-speaking openings, because there’s not enough bilingual teachers. It’s an issue. I think the answer is consolidation.

Wealth is concentrated, and so is poverty — exacerbated in a place like Trenton. On top of that, we have a federal government that always threatens to cut funding to places like Trenton if we dare say “Black” in the classroom. So I just wanted to put that on the table.

I run hotels, and I don’t spend my time lobbying the town not to allow any more hotels. I focus on how to make my hotel better. Jack’s view of that kind of competition could help our public schools.

I believe Jack’s business background and ability to build relationships with everyone puts him ahead of Mikie with being able to lead our state in the right direction financially.

Assemblyman Ciattarelli has said that he’s going to cut the state budget by 30 percent. Our 2026 state budget is $58.8 billion. That’s almost $18 billion. You can’t cut 30 percent.

To reduce spending by 30 percent, you would need to cut school funding, cut municipal aid, cut pension contributions or cut a whole bunch of programs to help those most in need with medicine and food and housing. At a time when the federal government is cutting funding for health care, education, food stamps, housing and so much more, the state needs to step up to protect N.J. residents, not cut further.

Does that mean we shouldn’t try?

New Jersey governor is one of the hardest jobs coming into the fiscal situation that our state faces. And you want a leader that can actually go into a room and figure it out. I don’t think she’s qualified to do that.

I trust a businessperson because I am one. My team will say: Oh, well, we can’t cut expenses without cutting services. Businesses do this all the time. It’s a straw man to pretend like the expenses are fixed. We are going to be broke as a state if we don’t make changes. And of the two choices out there, Jack is a voice of change, common sense, and not more of the same.

Here’s two things that I’ve heard today that I want to hold together. One is that Jack is a champion for change, but I’ve also heard that he’s not pushing back enough against the Trump administration. I can’t reconcile it. I can’t reconcile how Jack can be for change if he says that he wants to set up a New Jersey DOGE the same way the federal government did. And we’ve seen how that’s fallen apart.

Some of us might be tempted to use our vote to make a national statement to repudiate Trump. And I don’t know if that’s the right use of my vote, because I really believe that New Jersey is at an edge where we have to start to make solutions, because the spigot’s opening and people are leaving.

Jack traveled the entire state numerous times, building true relationships and partnerships. He has shown South Jersey real attention during his campaign trail. I feel that he did not take us, a smaller voting bloc, for granted like Mikie did. She stayed where the masses are: northern New Jersey.

Don’t tell me who you are and what you’re going to do for me. Show me. Jack has shown me that he is a moderate over a period of years. He’s a Jersey guy, and he’s been out in the community. He’s been there long before this race. And Mikie doesn’t vote. It’s so important that you vote on the things that are put in front of you.

Ciattarelli has been a business owner. I live in Jersey City, so I see people every single day starting their own businesses, figuring things out. And you can just tell from the way that he speaks and the way that he’s willing to fight for what we need.

From the progressive perspective, we will support her, but we’re asking for policy actions and to match the person to your slogan. You’re going to be a fighter. This is the time to fight.

I go back to the two-thirds who didn’t vote for her in the primary. The hope was: You don’t have a mandate, so don’t take the rest for granted. Listen, engage, and maybe offer some policy pivots.

I think you’re missing two things there, though. She has missed so many of her votes in the last few months. So who the heck is she is a legit question. When she’s made public appearances to the business community, who invite both candidates in, to the building trades at our convention, she walks in with a script. I just think she can’t define herself.

Yes, I don’t disagree with her inability to seem authentic.

Yep.

I don’t want to see each candidate just rubber-stamping their party. I’d like to see a little bit more governing, what they’re willing to do to govern for the state and for both sides.

Mr. Ciattarelli, he’s got a good plan, and it’s more detailed. Mikie Sherrill, it’s very vague and a lot of clichés. I try to give her a fair shake and go on her website and get some information. And I just really — I’m still left a little, I guess, confused.

I know who Sherrill is surrounding herself with. I know her policy people. All of their policies align with the policies that we advocate for. But she also needs to be stronger.

No matter who wins this thing, you’ve got to make the trains run. And Mr. Ciattarelli has a thorough understanding. And it shows when he comes out and speaks to people and has very specific policies. And I’m very concerned that [Sherrill] wins the election and becomes the dog who caught the mail truck and has no idea what’s going to happen next.

As a small business owner, I value leaders who understand real world challenges and focus on results, not rhetoric. During the Covid period, Mikie Sherrill publicly supported relief measures. In 2021 she voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan Act, which included funding to aid small businesses, among other relief. She brings discipline, integrity and the ability to lead under pressure.

I’m 100 percent Jack. Jack is driving on the ground. He’s not taking a 30,000-foot view. He can articulate his policies. Mikie is hard to get answers from.

As President Biden likes to say, “Don’t compare me to the almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” So I have contrasted Sherrill’s positions with those of Ciattarelli. After all, an election is a choice, and there isn’t a single issue on which I prefer Assemblyman Ciattarelli’s proposals to Representative Sherrill’s.