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NJ Governor's race debate recap: Transit, Trump, and more
FOX 5 NY's Linda Schmidt has the latest on what the candidates had to say.
Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill and Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli went head-to-head on Wednesday night in their final debate before New Jerseyans decide which of them will serve as the state's next governor.
The backstory:
New Jersey has gone Democratic in presidential and Senate contests for decades, but it's alternated between Republicans and Democrats in its odd-year elections for governor.
The state, however, has grown more conservative in recent years, with President Donald Trump losing last November to Democrat Kamala Harris by just 6 points.
Who won the debate last night?
Dig deeper:
During the debate, Ciattarelli and Sherrill sparred over a number of topics. For example, Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of contributing to "tens of thousands" of opioid deaths when he owned a medical publishing company. Ciattarelli fired back by suggesting that Sherrill was the one who contributed to opioid deaths by supporting the Biden administration's immigration polices.
They did agree on one thing, however: New Jerseyans should not have to pump their own gas.
Let's delve into the rest of the debate.
Affordability and Donald Trump
Both candidates have spent a large chunk of their campaigns discussing the high cost of living in New Jersey, and this debate was no different.
In both of their opening statements, Ciattarelli and Sherrill addressed the affordability crisis in the state. Sherrill has said she'd issue an executive order freezing utility rates, while Ciattarelli has talked about capping sky-high property taxes as a percentage of home value.
The discussion quickly shifted to President Trump, however, and his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Ciattarelli spoke highly of it, praising the bill for raising the federal deduction for state and local taxes. Sherrill, on the other hand, said that the bill "would undermine the ability to deduct almost 30 billion in taxes from New Jerseyans."
Sherrill also challenged Ciattarelli's relationship with the president, saying, "Jack won’t say one cross word about the president."
"In times of need, it’s best to have a relationship with whoever is in the White House," Ciattarelli said in response.
The president endorsed Ciattarelli in May on Truth Social.
Political violence and Charlie Kirk
Last month, Sherrill voted for a resolution in the U.S. House honoring Charlie Kirk, the conservative firebrand who died after being shot while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Ciattarelli questioned why Sherrill did that during the debate, considering she issued a statement after his death calling him a "misogynist and a racist."
"The two things are inconsistent to me," he said.
"That resolution was a resolution standing up for free speech and standing against political violence, and I do feel very strongly about that," she said in response.
"I also feel very strongly that, despite the fact that Charlie Kirk had a right to say a lot of things, I deeply disagreed with him. In fact, when I asked my opponent if he could disagree with Charlie Kirk saying Martin Luther King was a bad guy, or that women should be subservient to their husbands, he could not," she added.
Sherrill also spoke about the importance of free speech in her response.
Education
A believer in voucher programs, Ciattarelli highlighted his plans to expand the number of charter schools in the state during the debate.
"I'll provide them [parents] with vouchers and charter schools," he said.
Voucher programs use tax dollars to cover the cost of certain students' tuition at private schools. These types of programs have received pushback from education advocates, with the National Education Association calling them "catastrophic failures."
Sherrill did say that she supports charter schools in response, but stopped short of offering a full-throated answer on voucher programs. Both candidates agreed that more resources need to be put towards mental health in schools, however.
Broadly, both Sherrill and Ciattarelli are focused on the state's low reading scores, which they addressed during the debate as well. Ciattarelli additionally wants to adjust the state funding formula that determines how much money goes to individual school districts in the state.
Immigration
During the debate, Ciattarelli said that he would repeal the Immigrant Trust Directive.
According to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, this directive "limits the types of voluntary assistance that New Jersey’s law enforcement officers may provide to federal immigration authorities."
"I’ll secure New Jersey by us not being a sanctuary state, nor having sanctuary cities," he said.
Sherrill, on the other hand, said that she supports "comprehensive immigration reform."
Sherrill then highlighted her time as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, saying she was the "only person on the stage who has prosecuted a violent criminal who has been deported."
Ciattarelli did say he believes in a "pathway to recognition" for immigrants, to which Sherrill responded by saying, "that's not really a thing."
Sherrill's military records
Two related but separate stories about Sherrill's time in the Navy came up during the debate.
One story detailed how Sherrill's mostly unredacted military record was released to a Republican operative close to Ciattarelli's campaign by the Trump administration. The other centers on news that Sherrill did not participate in the 1994 graduation from the Naval Academy amid fallout that year from a well-documented cheating scandal.
Sherill was asked about the cheating scandal, to which she responded by saying that she was not permitted to participate in the graduation ceremony because she chose not to "turn in" her classmates.
"I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk at graduation, because I come from an incredibly accountable place," she said.
Ciattarelli and Sherill then sparred over whether Ciattarelli should "take accountability" for the release of those records publicly, and over whether Sherrill should release her disciplinary records, as well.
Who is running for NJ governor 2025?
When is Election Day in NJ? Timeline, key dates
- Tuesday, Oct. 25: Voter registration deadline for the general election.
- Saturday, Oct. 25 through Sunday, Nov. 2: The early voting period.
- Tuesday, Nov. 4: Election Day. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
You can check your registration status online here.
To find your local poll site, click here.
NJ governor polls: Who's ahead?
- A Fox News survey of New Jersey voters found Sherrill ahead of Ciattarelli by eight percentage points among likely voters (50-42%) and seven points among the larger sample of registered voters (48-41%) – both lead just outside the margin of sampling error. The poll was conducted Sept. 25-29.
- An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey of New Jersey voters found 43% of voters support Sherrill and Ciattarelli, respectively; 11% of voters were undecided. The poll was conducted Sept. 22-23.
How to track election results
Bookmark FOX 5 NY's election results page to track results in real time when polls close on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The Source: Information in this article was sourced from the Associated Press, The New York Times, NJ.com, the New Jersey Monitor, Congress, the National Education Association and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. FOX News, Emerson College polling, social media and previous FOX 5 NY reporting were also used.