Latest news with #D-N.J.
The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
GOP senator: Booker outburst shows Democrats are ‘leaderless'
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said Wednesday morning that Sen. Cory Booker's (D-N.J.) outburst on the Senate floor against colleagues in his own party illustrates that Democrats are 'leaderless.' 'You have pragmatic Democrats that want to get things done, particularly policing bills that come out of committee unanimously, strong bipartisan support,' Cramer said during an appearance on Fox Business. 'And then you have the other side that strictly sees that as a victory for Donald Trump if he gets to sign the bill, as opposed to a collective victory for the American people,' he added. Booker lashed out at his colleagues, Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) Tuesday evening, arguing the party is 'willing to be complicit' to President Trump. Instead, he argued the party should use their 'leverage' of bipartisan bills to fund police programs and to pressure the Trump administration to release funding for blue states such as New York, New Jersey and California. The tirade started after Cortez Masto made an effort to pass seven bills by unanimous consent on the Senate floor. The Garden State Democrat objected, saying the funding would not reach his home state. 'Don't be complicit to the president of the United States,' Booker, who made history earlier this year with his record-breaking speech on the Senate floor, told his fellow senators. 'We are standing at a moment where our president is eviscerating the Constitution of the United States of America, and we're willing to go along with that today.' Cramer, who was not in the room at the time, said the 'chaos' amongst the Democrats is a 'Republican's opportunity, but it doesn't do anything for the country.' 'So right now they seem to be a little bit leaderless, and consequently the kids are fighting,' he continued. 'It's hard to trust the motives of anybody that wants to be president in the Democratic Party because they have to play to this very fringy left-edge of theirs,' the North Dakota Republican added.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sherrill leading Ciattarelli by 8 points in New Jersey governor race: Survey
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) leads Republican Jack Ciattarelli by 8 points in New Jersey's gubernatorial race in one of the first independent polls of the general election. The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released on Tuesday showed Sherrill leading with 45 percent support to Ciattarelli's 37 percent, with 16 percent of survey respondents undecided. The race could be a key indicator of political parties' strength ahead of next year's midterms as Republicans seek to build on gains that the party made in the state in the November election and Democrats try to keep the Garden State blue. Pollsters found Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly lining up behind their parties' nominees, with 87 percent of Democrats saying they'll support Sherrill and 86 percent of Republicans planning to back Ciattarelli. But with voter registration in the state clearly favoring Democrats, Ciattarelli will likely need to pull some independent and Democratic support to notch an upset win. 'Unless something goes horribly awry, partisans are going to vote for their party's candidate,' said Dan Cassino, the executive director of the FDU Poll, in a release. 'While Republicans have been narrowing the gap, there are still more Democrats than Republicans in the state, and Ciattarelli needs to start pulling in more independents and Democrats if he wants to win.' The poll showed Sherrill leading Ciattarelli among independents by 7 points, with 30 percent support to his 23 percent, but with a plurality of 41 percent of respondents undecided. The survey also showed whether the race hinges on local or national issues could be critical to determining the winner. Respondents in the poll were first asked about their preference in the governor's race and then about a series of local or national issues. Democrats' and Republicans' support for each candidate stayed mostly the same after, but independents' support for the GOP candidate rose by 7 points among those asked about local issues and dropped by 4 points among those asked about national issues. 'Ciattarelli is walking a fine line with Trump: He needs to consolidate Trump supporters, but do so without making the race too national, or turning off voters who don't like what's happening in Washington,' Cassino said. 'For Sherrill, on the other hand, there's no downside to bashing Trump as much as she likes.' The results come after another independent general election poll from the Rutgers University Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling last month that found Sherrill ahead by a much larger margin of 20 points. But Ciattarelli's top strategist slammed the result as an outlier and pointed to recent polling misses in New Jersey that underestimated Republicans. This included the 2021 gubernatorial race, in which Ciattarelli was the Republican nominee for the first time and only lost to Gov. Phil Murphy (D) by 3 points, much closer than polls indicated. President Trump also outperformed expectations in the November election, only losing the state by about 6 points. The Fairleigh Dickinson poll was conducted July 17-23 among 806 registered voters. The standard sampling error was 3.4 percentage points. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Sherrill leading Ciattarelli by 8 points in New Jersey governor race: Survey
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) leads Republican Jack Ciattarelli by 8 points in New Jersey's gubernatorial race in one of the first independent polls of the general election. The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released on Tuesday showed Sherrill leading with 45 percent support to Ciattarelli's 37 percent, with 16 percent of survey respondents undecided. The race could be a key indicator of political parties' strength ahead of next year's midterms as Republicans seek to build on gains that the party made in the state in the November election and Democrats try to keep the Garden State blue. Pollsters found Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly lining up behind their parties' nominees, with 87 percent of Democrats saying they'll support Sherrill and 86 percent of Republicans planning to back Ciattarelli. But with voter registration in the state clearly favoring Democrats, Ciattarelli will likely need to pull some independent and Democratic support to notch an upset win. 'Unless something goes horribly awry, partisans are going to vote for their party's candidate,' said Dan Cassino, the executive director of the FDU Poll, in a release. 'While Republicans have been narrowing the gap, there are still more Democrats than Republicans in the state, and Ciattarelli needs to start pulling in more independents and Democrats if he wants to win.' The poll showed Sherrill leading Ciattarelli among independents by 7 points, with 30 percent support to his 23 percent, but with a plurality of 41 percent of respondents undecided. The survey also showed whether the race hinges on local or national issues could be critical to determining the winner. Respondents in the poll were first asked about their preference in the governor's race and then asked about a series of local or national issues. Democrats' and Republicans' support for each candidate stayed mostly the same after, but independents' support for the GOP candidate rose by 7 points among those asked about local issues and dropped by 4 points among those asked about national issues. 'Ciattarelli is walking a fine line with Trump: he needs to consolidate Trump supporters, but do so without making the race too national, or turning off voters who don't like what's happening in Washington,' Cassino said. 'For Sherrill, on the other hand, there's no downside to bashing Trump as much as she likes.' The results come after another independent general election poll from the Rutgers University Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling last month that found Sherrill ahead by a much larger margin of 20 points. But Ciattarelli's top strategist slammed the result as an outlier and pointed to recent polling misses in New Jersey that underestimated Republicans. This included the 2021 gubernatorial race, in which Ciattarelli was the Republican nominee for the first time and only lost to Gov. Phil Murphy (D) by 3 points, much closer than polls indicated. President Trump also outperformed expectations in the November election, only losing the state by about 6 points. The FDU poll was conducted from July 17-23 among 806 registered voters. The standard sampling error was 3.4 percentage points.
The Hill
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Alina Habba not retained by federal judges as US attorney for New Jersey
Judges on the U.S. District Court of New Jersey have declined to retain President Trump's pick for the state's top federal prosecutor, Alina Habba, as the clock on her interim status runs out. In a terse standing order, the court tapped attorney Desiree Leigh Grace to lead the office hours before the expiration of Habba's 120-day temporary term. The appointment is effective as of Tuesday, says the order signed by U.S. District Judge Renée Bumb, the district's chief judge. Habba, who previously served as a personal lawyer for Trump, assumed the role in March. Her profile as a staunch defender of the president in the courtroom and the press was raised while representing him in his business fraud case and the defamation and sexual assault lawsuits brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Early in her interim term, her leadership came under scrutiny following the arrests and charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) stemming from an incident at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Though a trespass count against Baraka was dropped, McIver is still fighting her criminal charges in court. She has pleaded not guilty to three counts of 'assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering' with federal officers. At a hearing dismissing Baraka's charge, a federal judge said the arrest suggested a 'worrisome misstep' by the office, noting the 'apparent rush' in bringing the case that culminated in the government's 'embarrassing' retraction of the charge. Baraka has sued Habba for damages over his arrest. Despite that, high-ranking Justice Department officials imparted trust in her ability to run the office. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a post to X that Habba brought 'steady leadership and sound judgment' as interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. He said she has the 'full confidence' 'District judges should use their authority to keep her in place,' he said. A New Jersey native and first-generation American, Habba became part of Trump's orbit by representing him in a defamation lawsuit brought by former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos, who later dropped the case. Most recently, she worked in the White House as a counselor to the president and, before that, as Trump's legal spokesperson and a senior adviser to his campaign.
The Hill
19-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Will the 2028 Democratic nominee be ‘none of the above'?
Did you hear the one where former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom were the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028? Neither have I. Nor have any Democrats I speak with who concern themselves with real-world politics. In a recent poll from a company called Echelon Insights — which describes itself as 'erasing old industry lines that separate the process of conducting research from the tools to act on it' — Harris was leading the Democratic field with 26 percent of the primary vote, followed by Buttigieg at 11 percent, Newsom at 10 percent, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) at 7 percent and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) at 6 percent. I have spoken with numerous Democrats in or around the business of politics over the last few months. Not one believes that Harris will — or should be — the nominee. Similarly, none believe the other four names topping the poll will be the standard-bearer come November 2028. As has been stated many times in the past, a good lawyer can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. The same holds true for polling. Depending on where you poll and how you shade the questions, a poll can bolster the views and desires of one partisan entity over the other, be they Democrats or Republicans. As for a recent glaring example of such polling flaws — purposeful or innocent — look no further than the truly laughable final Des Moines Register-Mediacom Iowa Poll of the 2024 election season conducted by Selzer and Co. In a state Trump was heavily favored to win, the jaw-dropping poll showed Harris leading Trump 47 percent to 44 percent. Of course, Trump went on to crush Harris in Iowa by 13 points, meaning the poll was a whopping 16 points off. 'How,' curious minds wondered, 'could a legitimate poll be that far off?' Some, including Trump himself, openly speculated whether it had been a tactic to suppress the Republican vote in the state. Trump was rightfully so bothered by the massive and mysterious failure of that poll that he decided to sue pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling firm, the Des Moines Register newspaper and its parent company Gannett. Although the suit was later dropped, Selzer chose to retire from the polling business. All that is to say that more and more people in the business put little stock in any of these polls. Of course, at some point, some Democrat is going to emerge as the frontrunner and then the eventual nominee. After Trump's decisive victory in 2024, every Democrat I spoke with believed their party would learn from its mistakes and tone-deafness and move back toward the center — back toward once again listening to the voices of working-class and disenfranchised Americans. Not only has the party not done so, but it has doubled and tripled down on 'woke' and 'DEI' rhetoric while still loudly pushing its main 'policy' plank from 2024: 'We hate Trump.' Of course, the 'we hate Trump' strategy did nothing to address the 'bread and butter' issues upending the lives of working-class and disenfranchised Americans in 2024 and it is doing less for them now. And yet, 'rising voices' such as Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) still invoke that strategy incessantly in egocentric attempts at gaining attention. Here is a suggestion for Democratic-leaning polling companies. Why not poll the minority, poor and disenfranchised constituents in the districts represented by Ocasio-Cortez and Crockett? Why not ask which 'bread and butter' emergencies either is fixing by appearing on show after show proclaiming their hatred of Trump? How has the 'leadership' of Ocasio-Cortez and Crockett improved the real lives of those constituents? Most Americans want to see those 'bread and butter' issues fixed. They don't live in entrenched and elite bubbles of entitlement. They exist in an often brutally tough world, in which many still must choose which necessity they will have to go without that month. They don't care if you 'hate Trump' or not. They want to feed and protect their children. And yet Democratic leaders still refuse to wrest control back from the far-left wing of their party. Why? Are they truly that afraid and intimidated by what really does amount to a tiny percentage of their base? In the meantime, the 2028 Republican Party bench could not be stronger. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are all on the list. And guess what? Just as in 2024, all are laser-focused on the 'bread and butter' issues that most affect the quality of life of working-class and disenfranchised Americans. So who will be the Democratic nominee in 2028? As the internal battle for control of that party goes on, my money is still on 'none of the above.'
