New Jersey voters will decide on Nov. 2 in the governor’s race between the Democratic incumbent, called “a progressive governor” by his supporters, and his Republican challenger, running under the slogan, “Let’s Fix New Jersey.”
The governor said that he’s most proud of a tax fairness initiative for middle-class families, establishing a minimum wage of $15 per hour in the state, “equal work for equal pay for millions,” and funding public education. He also listed reform to the criminal justice system, which gave voting rights in New Jersey to those who are on parole or probation, as well as allowing in-person early voting for the first time in New Jersey.
“I want to make sure we’re protecting women’s health at all costs, including a woman’s right to choose, ” Murphy told Sharpton.
“New Jersey ... is hampered by some of the highest property tax burdens in the country, has the second-highest-rate corporate and individual income taxes in the country and a particularly aggressive treatment of international income, levies an inheritance tax, and maintains some of the nation’s worst-structured individual income taxes,” the report reads.
Murphy told Sharpton that he was also proud of the legalization of adult-use of cannabis in New Jersey.
“I did that for social justice with expunged 362,000 low-end drug crimes, overwhelmingly impacting young persons of color,” Murphy said, noting that the legalization was intended for the next generation. “In adult-use cannabis, it’s both for the next generation and the last generation, who were so damaged by the war on drugs.”
Making college more affordable was also one of the things Murphy said he was proud of.
Only New Jersey’s private religious colleges cut their tuition between 2017 and 2020, NJ.com reported. However, state Republicans said the tuition-free college program will contribute to a tax increase, which, in turn, will make it difficult for everyone to save for college and afford tuition, NJ.com reported.
“The fact is hard-working, middle-class people still do not qualify for free community college or reduced tuition,” Stami Williams, Ciattarelli’s campaign communications director, told NJ.Com.
Challenging the Incumbent
Murphy’s Republican challenger runs under the campaign slogan, “Let’s Fix New Jersey.”
Ciattarelli told The Epoch Times at a “Meet and Greet” event in Woodbridge, New Jersey, that the state currently is the worst place in the nation in which to do business.”
The state has the “highest property taxes in the nation. Our government spending is out of control in Trenton [the state’s capital]. We’re not supporting our local and state police as we should be, and our public school curriculum isn’t teaching critical life skills or providing vocational training to our students,” he said. “Those are the five areas that are very broken. I want to fix those things.
“It seems as though the people of New Jersey agree.”
To address these issues, Ciattarelli said if elected, he would “lower property taxes, create more jobs, control spending, support our local police so they can do their job to make our community safe, and change the public school curriculum.”
The Murphy administration forecasted high payments in unemployment benefits in New Jersey, which would have resulted in the unemployment insurance fund running a deficit of nearly $1 billion in June. But the state unemployment fund held more than $51 million in surplus at the end of June—a billion-dollar miss, Oroho said on Oct. 28.
“The unemployment insurance tax increase [set to take effect at the end of October] was not announced until Friday, August 13. There was plenty of time for the administration to recognize that their forecast was way off and to nix any tax increase,” Oroho, a Republican, said in the statement.
Get Out to Vote
Ciattarelli encouraged people to vote and to tell others either directly or through social media to vote, too.“Let us not wake up the morning of Nov. 3—Wednesday, Nov. 3—and find out we lost by 1,797 votes—not with what’s at stake: the future of our state,” he said, referring to former Republican New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, who won the election by 1,797 votes out of 3 million votes cast.
“Get out, remind people what’s at stake. ... Our future is at stake.”
Ciattarelli said he himself has won seven elections in New Jersey. He told the audience his story of running for town council in a mostly Democratic town where all six council seats were held by Democrats.
“On Memorial Day, I started knocking on every door. And on Labor Day, I was done. I went back and knocked on every door again. And the people of my hometown gave me the privilege of serving on that council. And three years later, I won with 88 percent of the vote,” he said.
Ciattarelli said it taught him that the hard-working, decent people of New Jersey will vote for a person who gives them a reason to vote.
“Here’s my reason,“ he said. ”There are two things that everybody in this country wants: opportunity and security. And I believe a common-sense, conservative approach provides opportunity and security to people of all colors, all races, all ethnicities, and all religions in this most diverse state in the country.”
Ciattarelli is undeterred about his chances, since the state hasn’t reelected a Democratic governor since Brendan Byrne in 1977,
During the rally, Murphy touted the policies he has implemented, such as tax fairness for middle-class families, minimum wage at $15 an hour, more affordable public education, more child care, environmental policies, and legalizing marijuana.
“We have come a long way but our work is not done. We have to keep moving forward, we cannot go backward,” Murphy said. “You have got to vote either by mail or early in-person voting for the next three days—or if not, on Tuesday, Nov. 2.”
“I’m asking you to bring out two or three of your friends. Let us win this election,” Sanders said at the rally.
