Democrats pour millions into New Jersey governor's race
Greater Garden State, a super PAC backed by the Democratic Governors Association, is spending $20 million on ads on television, digital and streaming platforms, according to an announcement shared first with NBC News. The ad buy is more than Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and aligned outside groups spent on ads combined in the 2021 general election.
Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill is running to succeed Murphy, who cannot run for re-election because of term limits. Sherrill is competing against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state legislator and the party's 2021 nominee, who easily won the GOP primary with President Donald Trump's endorsement.
'The DGA is committed to holding New Jersey's governorship and making sure that voters up and down the Garden State understand the stakes of this election,' DGA political director Jordy Zeigler said in a statement, which linked Ciattarelli to Trump and said Sherrill was focused on the cost of living.
Sherrill, Ciattarelli and outside groups have not spent significant funds on ads since last month's primaries, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. But the race is expected to attract millions of dollars before it's over. The primaries alone featured $89.8 million spent on ads, with most of the money spent in the crowded Democratic contest.
Nearly $30 million was spent on ads for the general election in 2021, according to AdImpact.
The new ad buy is being placed early to take advantage of lower advertising rates before the airwaves get more crowded during the fall campaign.
The New Jersey contest is one of two governor's races this year, along with Virginia's. Both races will be closely watched for clues about the political environment ahead of next year's midterm elections, and both are expected to be competitive.
Trump lost New Jersey by 6 percentage points last year, a 10-point improvement on his 2020 margin. That was the second-largest swing toward Trump in any state. Murphy also faced a competitive race in 2021, when he defeated Ciattarelli by 3 points.
New Jersey voters have tended to elect governors of the opposite party of the president, and it has been more than 60 years since the same party won three consecutive governor's races.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The Latest: Texas GOP poised to approve map gerrymandered for their advantage
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Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
MIKEY SMITH: 10 dictator-esque Donald Trump moments as his plot to rig next election gets ugly
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Trump spotted testing out his new patio Donald Trump was spotted hanging out on the edge of the new, Mar-a-lago-ified Rose Garden yesterday, testing a new sound system. And what song was he blasting out across the concreted over garden, now covered with the exact same chairs, tables and umbrellas seen at his Florida club? Of course, it was God Bless the USA, by Lee Greenwood. Of COURSE it was. According to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump was testing the speakers for "what will be the greatest event in the history of the White House." 3. Trump moans that the Smithsonian doesn't talk up the benefits of slavery Trump posted some more about his Pyongyang-esque plan to rewrite history by putting pressure on the Smithsonian museums to reflect his views. And this time he was a bit more specific, in a particularly troubling way. "The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of "WOKE,"" he wrote. 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I am your voice." TikTok remains owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company which is part-owned by the Chinese government. 5. You can almost smell the burning plastic In case you thought the White House wasn't quite gaudy enough, Trump's team unveiled a new portrait in the West Wing. In it, Trump, looking particularly svelte, walks grimacing between rows of American flags, apparently away from a blazing bin fire. 6. Is everything alright mate? Donald Trump has started telling people he wants to get to heaven, and he's not sure he will. In a display of introspection that's quite out of character for Trump, he said during a phone interview with (who else?) Fox and Friends, yesterday: "I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I hear I'm not doing well. I hear I'm really at the bottom of the totem pole." I mean, it could be introspection. Alternatively, it could be just that he needs to start telling people his motivation for making "peace deals" is something other than a Nobel Prize. 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They gave the Pizzagate guy a seat in the press room I've written before about the special "new media seat" in the press room. To recap, the seating in the press room is arranged by the White House Correspondents Association - a body independent of the administration. So realising they couldn't have total control over what they were asked and who could ask it, the Trump administration sneakily added a new chair to the Press Room - the "new media seat". The occupant of the seat is invited by the White House, and always gets called on for a question first. I, for one, can't imagine any actual reporter feeling comfortable supplicating themselves to the extent where they'd sit in Karoline's special chair. But it's OK, because for the vast majority of the time, actual reporters are nowhere near it. Instead, it's a steady stream of right-wing grifters, MAGA influencers and people from the MyPillow guy's website. So it was that yesterday Leavitt introduced Jack Posobiec, an "alt-right" personality and conspiracy theorist, whose work has touched on white supremacist talking points and attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election. His tweets have frequently included white supremacist codes and dogwhistles. And he was one of the most prominent promoters of the false conspiracy theory "Pizzagate", which claimed a child-sex ring was being run from the basement of a Washington DC pizzeria. (This could be put down to a bit of fun until 2016, when a guy turned up to the restaurant with a gun and demanded to see the basement, only to be told by bewildered staff that there was no basement.) Yay new media. 9. Dan Bongino's position at the FBI seems uncertain Former fitness podcast host-turned (sigh) Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino has been on departure watch for months - ever since he had a big row with Attorney General Pam Bondi, which was followed by a curiously unscheduled day off. Now it's emerged that while he's still Deputy Director of the sharing the role with someone else. Missouri's attorney general, Andrew Bailey, has been tapped up to be a co-Deputy, a move which has surprised quite a lot of people. Bongino responded to the announcement with a one-word tweet, saying: "Welcome", followed by three American flags. 10. Fox News host caught up in Trump's crime crackdown And Baier, the Fox News personality who interviewed Donald Trump immediately after his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday, appears to have got caught up in Trump's DC "crime" crackdown. Footage shows him being pulled over by police in a white 4x4, and providing documents to an officer through his open window. Baier later explained the stop on Twitter: "I picked up my ringing phone as I drove past an officer while driving my wife's car in Georgetown. He pointed to have me pull over - I did. "He was very professional. I had to dig for the registration card. Got a ticket and left. 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The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Texas Democrats tear ‘permission slips' imposed by Republican house speaker
Texas Democrats are tearing up 'permission slips' they signed in order to leave the chamber, joining state representative Nicole Collier ahead of Wednesday's vote on the controversial Texas congressional redistricting maps. The slips are part of new surveillance protocols set by Texas Republicans in the house chamber, stating that Democrats would 'be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated [Texas department of public safety] officer' who would ensure their return to the chamber. The move follows a two-week quorum break that had delayed Republicans' effort to redraw the state's congressional districts to align with Donald Trump's push to reshape the US House map in his favor before the 2026 midterm elections. On Tuesday, Collier chose to remain confined inside the Texas house chamber until lawmakers reconvene on Wednesday, refusing to comply with what she condemned as a 'demeaning' protocol. Collier was among dozens of Democrats who left the state for the Democratic havens of California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to delay the Republican-controlled legislature's approval of redrawn congressional districts sought by Trump. When they returned Monday, Republicans insisted that Democrats have around-the-clock police escorts to ensure they wouldn't leave again and scuttle Wednesday's planned House vote on a new political map. But Collier wouldn't sign what Democrats called the 'permission slip' needed to leave the house chamber, a half-page form allowing Department of Public Safety troopers to follow them. She spent Monday night and Tuesday on the house floor, where she set up a livestream while her Democratic colleagues outside had plainclothes officers following them to their offices and homes. Linda Garcia, a Dallas-area representative, said she drove three hours home from Austin with an officer following her. When she went grocery shopping, he went down every aisle with her, pretending to shop, she said. As she spoke to the Associated Press by phone, two unmarked cars with officers inside were parked outside her home. 'It's a weird feeling,' she said. 'The only way to explain the entire process is: it's like I'm in a movie.' The trooper assignments, ordered by Dustin Burrows, the Republican house speaker, was another escalation of a redistricting battle that has widened across the country. Trump is pushing GOP state officials to tilt the map for the 2026 midterms more in his favor to preserve the GOP's slim house majority, and Democrats nationally have rallied around efforts to retaliate. Gene Wu, the house minority leader from Houston, and Vincel Perez, a state representative of El Paso, stayed overnight with Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth. On Tuesday, more Democrats returned to the Capitol to tear up the slips they had signed and stay on the house floor, which has a lounge and restrooms for members. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, a Dallas-area representative, called their protest a 'slumber party for democracy' and said Democrats were holding strategy sessions on the floor. 'We are not criminals,' Penny Morales Shaw, a Houston representative, said. Collier said having officers shadow her was an attack on her dignity and an attempt to control her movements. Burrows brushed off Collier's protest, saying he was focused on important issues, such as providing property tax relief and responding to last month's deadly floods. His statement Tuesday morning did not mention redistricting and his office did not immediately respond to other Democrats joining Collier. 'Rep Collier's choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the house rules,' Burrows said. Under those rules, until Wednesday's scheduled vote, the chamber's doors are locked, and no member can leave 'without the written permission of the speaker'. To do business Wednesday, 100 of 150 House members must be present. The GOP plan is designed to send five additional Republicans from Texas to the US House. Texas Democrats returned to Austin after Democrats in California launched an effort to redraw their state's districts to take five seats from Republicans. Democrats also said they were returning because they expect to challenge the new maps in court. Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state 3 August, and Greg Abbott, the Republican governor, asked the state supreme court to oust Wu and several other Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent. Democrats reported different levels of monitoring. Armando Walle, a Houston representative, said he wasn't sure where his police escort was, but there was still a heightened police presence in the Capitol, so he felt he was being monitored closely. Some Democrats said the officers watching them were friendly. But Sheryl Cole, an Austin representative, said in a social media post that when she went on her morning walk Tuesday, the officer following her lost her on the trail, got angry and threatened to arrest her. Garcia said her nine-year-old son was with her as she drove home and each time she looked in the rearview mirror, she could see the officer close behind. He came inside a grocery store where she was shopping with her son. 'I would imagine that this is the way it feels when you're potentially shoplifting and someone is assessing whether you're going to steal,' she said. Associated Press contributed to this report
