NJ Democratic governor candidates want to fight Trump and tackle affordability

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3 days ago

New Jersey voters in both parties have begun to vote to select their nominees for governor in the June 10 primary election.
This spring, the USA TODAY Network New Jersey Editorial Board convened conversations with nearly all of the major candidates. We talked broadly about their campaigns, their agendas if nominated and elected and about the impact of the administration of President Donald Trump.
Here are thoughts and impressions about candidates in the Democratic field, presented alphabetically:
Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, 54, has spent a decade leading the Garden State's largest city and has been credited for taking innovative approaches to solving Newark's financial challenges while also working to fuel the city's ongoing renaissance.
In framing his candidacy with the USA TODAY Network New Jersey Editorial Board, Baraka, just days after he was detained by federal Homeland Security agents outside Delaney Hall detention center, positioned himself as a leader who could bring new relevancy to his party. Baraka said he would re-center the New Jersey Democratic Party as the champion of working people — something he said his party had squandered in its more recent embrace of elites.
'We forgot how to fight,' Baraka said of his party.
Baraka talked at length about his capacity to challenge the Trump administration, particularly on immigration. (The trespassing charge he was held on has since been dropped.) He also said he would continue to champion diversity, equity and inclusion policies if he clinches his party's nomination and the governorship.
Baraka also believes his candidacy is informed by his experience as a mayor. He talked at length about the state's need to get its fiscal house in better order by seeking to raise revenues by increasing income taxes on the state's wealthy. Baraka also talked about the need to reconsider school funding formulas and said he would seek to consolidate small school districts.
The 47-year-old mayor of Jersey City, who has held that office since 2013, declared his candidacy for governor in 2023.
From the start, Fulop has framed his run as a maverick effort. He has eschewed support from establishment Democrats, including county organizations and has said he has been buoyed by the elimination of the county line ballot design, which had traditionally favored candidates favored by the Democratic machine. In turn, he has been supporting his own slates of candidates seeking seats in the New Jersey Assembly this fall.
In conversations with the USA TODAY Network Editorial Board this spring, Fulop made the case that his experience as a mayor will suit him well as the Garden State's chief executive. Fulop was direct about his focus on fixing NJ Transit's funding and infrastructure woes. He was also unequivocal about his willingness to take on the Trump administration.
'I'm looking forward to fixing NJ Transit once and for all and being bold on that,' Fulop said. 'I think that's there's a lot of things we can do in a Trump era to send a message to the country that New Jersey has a different set of priorities.'
Fulop, who says he has more than 15,000 volunteers supporting his campaign across New Jersey, seems eager to continue to reshape the New Jersey Democratic Party. That said, he also pledged continuity and said he would invite New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin to continue his service in a Fulop administration.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the Tenafly Democrat who has served in Congress since 2016, has made a name for himself as a moderate who works across the aisle to pursue progress on various legislative priorities. He also presents a moderate choice for Democratic voters — with a vision for a term as governor that focuses on lowering taxes.
Gottheimer, who has co-chaired the bipartisan Problem Solvers' Caucus, has been a champion of restoring the SALT deduction. He has also sounded the alarm about the growing affordability crisis in New Jersey and points to an ambitious plan to reduce taxes as the centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign platform. Gottheimer has said New Jersey voters he has spoken with on the campaign trail — often in diners, as he has noted — are anxious and concerned about costs. Rising utility costs and potential economic disruption caused by Trump policy are just the latest drivers of that anxiety, he said.
'How do we get taxes down? How do we get costs down? How do we get life more affordable?' Gottheimer asked in framing his agenda in a recent conversation with the USA TODAY Network Editorial Board.
Gottheimer says his tax plan deals with structural benefits and New Jersey's pension obligations. It would work to fuel economic growth in New Jersey, he said. Gottheimer is focused on growing New Jersey's business sector and adding jobs. Lower taxes, he said, will work to stem ongoing out-migration as New Jersey residents flee the Garden State. Gottheimer is also committed to creating a position in the gubernatorial administration that focuses on bringing federal dollars back to New Jersey.
Gottheimer, 49, has also positioned himself as a defender of New Jersey values as the Trump agenda unfolds, noting that he continues to hear from voters that the president's new term is only adding to their broad anxieties about the nation's direction and its economy.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democrat from Montclair who has represented the Morris County-centric 11th Congressional District since she was first elected to Congress in the blue wave of 2018, presents New Jersey Democratic voters with a centrist agenda focused on affordability and managing the state's affairs with minimal disruption from the Trump administration.
Sherrill has strongly advocated for the restoration of the SALT deduction, and has been a champion for reproductive, women's and LGBTQ rights. She has framed her campaign for governor around her commitment to affordability, and to protecting New Jersey values in the face of an ambitious Trump administration agenda that could level drastic cuts to federal programs — like Medicaid — in the Garden State.
In conversations with the USA TODAY Network New Jersey editorial board this spring, Sherrill talked at length about the urgent need to solve a vexing housing crisis that is fueled by soaring prices and rents. She also said she would work to stimulate repurposing of existing infrastructure — like vacant office buildings — for reuse as housing. And she pledged to break apart what she characterized as a complex and sometimes thorny regulatory environment that she said stymies housing development in New Jersey. Sherrill also spoke at some length about the Garden State's looming energy crisis — utility rates are set to increase next month — and did not rule out expanding the state's nuclear energy generation capacity.
Sherrill, 52, also pledged to assemble like-minded Democratic governors who oppose parts of the Trump agenda and said she would work to build coalitions of resistance and would continue to push back on administrative actions through ongoing lawsuits.
When asked what she was hearing from voters on the campaign trail, Sherrill focused specifically on the Trump agenda and affordability.
'I'm hearing largely two things,' Sherrill said. 'One is 'What's coming from Washington is like nothing I've ever seen. I'm very scared,' and two is. 'I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to afford to live here.''
Sean Spiller, 49, a former mayor of Montclair who is president of the New Jersey Education Association, has framed his candidacy around delivering greater affordability to New Jersey by addressing housing costs, health care access, education access and energy affordability.
Putting his focus on affordability into specific terms, Spiller has said he would pursue a reconfiguration of New Jersey's state income tax brackets with a focus on extracting more revenue from the Garden State's wealthiest residents.
In addition, Spiller, the son of immigrants, told the USA TODAY New Jersey Editorial Board that he would actively resist aspects of the Trump agenda, including the push to deport undocumented migrants.
'People are fearful in many ways,' Spiller said, citing the uncertainties presented by the Trump agenda. 'People want to know, 'Hey, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to help?''
Spiller, a teacher, has the full backing of the powerful NJEA, which has pumped millions into his campaign. That support may have strings attached should Spiller run a successful campaign. He has advocated for 'pension justice' and has said he would reconfigure pension benefits for New Jersey's public-school educators.
Steve Sweeney, the former Senate President who presided over the upper chamber in Trenton on the watches of former Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Phil Murphy, is attempting to stage a comeback in his run for governor. Sweeney, who lost reelection in 2021 at the hands of former state Sen. Ed Durr, has framed his candidacy for governor around his considerable experience in Trenton.
A former ironworker who served in the state Senate for 20 years with support from the powerful South Jersey Democratic Party machine, Sweeney, 65, makes the case that his years of experience helping to lead the Legislature sets him apart.
'I know where the lights in the bathroom are,' he quipped to the USA TODAY Network New Jersey editorial board.
Among Sweeney's top priorities — beyond addressing affordability and defending New Jersey from aspects of the Trump agenda — would be an effort to reconsider the state budget process in Trenton, which he said needs to be considered from a multi-year perspective. Such an effort would help state departments plan more efficiently and, in turn, save taxpayers money, Sweeney argued.
Further, Sweeney believes property taxes can be better stabilized if smaller New Jersey school districts were incentivized to merge.
Sweeney, who said he supports due process for all, nonetheless said he would not support New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive, which has limited interactions between state and local law enforcement and federal entities like ICE, since 2018.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ governor race: Democratic governor candidates want to fight Trump