Thoughts on the final debate between three Republicans running for governor

Yahoo

22-05-2025

The three front-runners for the GOP nomination for governor backed smaller budgets, the death penalty, and harsher penalties for juvenile partygoers. (Illustration by Alex Cochran for New Jersey Monitor)
The final GOP debate of the gubernatorial primary season was Tuesday night in Newark, with the three front-runners — state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, and radio talk show host Bill Spadea — on the stage. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:
The audience was rowdy, much more so than the larger crowd that attended the five-person Democratic debate on Sunday. Not sure if audience members met up to pregame or whether Republican voters are just more rambunctious, but it sure got loud.
The Dem debate was light on one-on-one attacks. Ciattarelli and Spadea did not hold back, with Ciattarelli hitting Spadea for never winning elective office and Spadea attacking both his chief rivals for being insiders. Bramnick, who got in a few jabs of his own, often appeared like a peacemaking dad to two brawling children. 'Let's stay with the substance, and in the general election none of this is going to help us. Let's concentrate on the Democratic policies that have put our state in a situation where we're unaffordable, energy costs are off the charts, and of course we're closing prisons as opposed to putting people in prisons,' he said.
President Trump loomed large, naturally, especially his endorsement of Ciattarelli over Spadea, who got this issue out of the way from the start, saying in his opening statement, 'The president endorsed a poll, a poll that was conducted and paid for by Jack's campaign. The president did not endorse a plan. The president did not endorse a set of principles.' Bramnick, who has been a Trump critic for years, was not in the running for the president's nod, which he noted with a quip: 'I did not get the endorsement from Donald Trump. I waited up late at night — no phone call.'
Thoughts on New Jersey Democrats' long, long debate night
All three candidates came out in favor of restoring the death penalty, which was abolished in 2007, during a discussion of the Newark 14-year-old accused of killing Newark Police Sgt. Joseph Azcona in March. After Ciattarelli said he would make sure the teen gets prosecuted as an adult, Spadea said he supports the death penalty for all cop killers. Ciattarelli said he supports the death penalty for serial killers, mass murderers, and terrorists. Bramnick, who voted against getting rid of capital punishment when he was in the Assembly, said it should be in place for certain instances, like for people who murder and rape children. 'So I have a voting record on that, not a radio record,' he said, taking a swipe at Spadea.
Bramnick doesn't think much of Democratic governor hopeful Rep. Josh Gottheimer's pledge to cut property taxes by 15%. 'I'm going to put Josh on my tax reduction team,' Bramnick said. 'He can serve with Houdini and other people who make stuff up, right? Look, Josh keeps saying that and I've been serving the Legislature and as the leader for 10 years — he's talking nuts.'
Boy, Republicans do not like pronouns. Spadea and Ciattarelli mentioned pronouns four times last night, with Ciattarelli saying about Democrats, 'They worry about pronouns, I worry about property taxes' (two pronouns in that sentence, by the way) and Spadea saying several times that schools and colleges are too focused on 'pronouns and propaganda.'
All three candidates came out strongly in favor of punishing juveniles who show up in large masses on boardwalks because of pop-up parties advertised on social media. Local authorities have griped that they can't handle so many teens hanging out in one place at a time, and Spadea said kids should be punished. 'There are local laws that are being violated in terms of the number of people that are gathering outside. We've handcuffed our police officers so, A, I believe we need to start charging 14-year-olds as adults,' he said. A wild response to large mobs of kids showing up and hanging out at beaches and boardwalks, some of our state's most popular tourist destinations. Ciattarelli pledged, 'We're not going to have flash mobs on our Jersey Shore when I'm governor.'
Bramnick, meanwhile, said, 'I would give no leeway whatsoever to rioting anywhere, especially on the sacred ground of the Jersey Shore.' Ah, yes, sacred. Exactly the word I think of when I'm stepping over someone puking on the boardwalk outside Martell's on a Friday night in July.
Gov. Phil Murphy's budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is $58.1 billion. The Republican candidates to succeed Murphy have all said they think there's too much spending now — but how much do they think a state budget should be? Moderator David Wildstein of New Jersey Globe asked this question, and Bramnick sorta answered by saying he'd get rid of pork projects that he said have added $5 billion to the budget over the last seven years, while Spadea said the budget should be about $46 billion. Ciattarelli noted that budgets under Murphy's predecessors included billions less in spending, though he did not specify what he thought the budget should be. 'Jack's going to have to check with his lobbyist before he'll give you a specific answer on what he'll actually cut,' Spadea said.
There are two more candidates who will be on the June 10 GOP primary ballot: Burlington County contractor Justin Barbera and former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac. Neither of them raised enough money to receive matching funds from the state for their campaign, so they were barred from appearing at last night's debate. Kranjac held counter-programming in the form of a tele-town hall with Clinton-era GOP hero Newt Gingrich. Barbera showed up last night and was escorted out by police after he verbally tussled with debate organizers (he wanted to be featured in the post-debate press conference). 'I deserve to be up there,' he said. 'You're what's wrong with this state.'
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