NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli repeatedly clashed during their second and final debate in the closely watched race for New Jersey governor Wednesday night, butting heads over the federal government shutdown, Sherrill's military records, President Donald Trump and the high cost of living in the state.
Much of the debate focused on local issues such as the best ways to lower costs in the notoriously expensive state. But they also disagreed on the federal government shutdown, including the Trump administration's efforts to use it as a pretext to freeze funding for the Hudson River rail project, which would replace the more than century-old, crumbling tunnels connecting New Jersey and New York City.
The debate became increasingly pointed and personal as it went on. One of the most contentious moments came when Sherrill, a four-term congresswoman elected during Trump’s first midterm to a longtime GOP-held seat, accused Ciattarelli of profiting off the opioid crisis, leading to deaths.
“You’re trying to divert from the fact you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” she charged. The connection to opioid manufacturers surfaced during Ciattarelli’s last bid for governor four years ago. NJ.com reported that a medical publishing company Ciattarelli owned received more than $12 million in grants, mostly from pharmaceutical companies, to publish content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain. Ciattarelli sold the company in 2017.
Ciattarelli denied the accusation and responded by referencing the scandal surrounding Sherrill's military records, saying, at least “I got to walk at my college graduation.”
But they agreed on one thing: Both are united in keeping in place a law that makes it illegal to pump your own gas in the Garden State.
New Jersey is one of two states, along with Virginia, electing governors this fall — and the contests are widely seen as measures of how voters feel about Trump’s second term and how Democrats are responding.
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 Trump losing last November to Democrat Kamala Harris by just 6 points — a dramatic swing from his nearly 13-point deficit in 2016.
The hourlong debate was held as voters have already begun mailing in ballots ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Here are some top takeaways from the debate:
Trump again takes center stage
The president was again front and center on the debate stage, as Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of being beholden to Trump. Trump endorsed Ciattarelli in the GOP primary, saying he was “ALL IN” and “now 100% (PLUS!)” on the president’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, despite past criticism.
“Jack won’t say one bad word about the president,” Sherrill charged as she tried to tie the two men together.
Ciattarelli said he would put the needs of New Jersey residents first, while talking up the benefits of having a positive working relationship with the White House.
“Let me be clear. No matter who sits in the White House, my job is to stand up for the 9.3 million citizens of the state, and I will. I will fiercely advocate for them at all times. But let me also say this, that in times of need, it’s best to have a relationship with whoever occupies the White House and I will,” Ciattarelli said.
He also mocked Sherrill for trying to blame everything wrong with the state on the president.
“I don’t know what he has to do with our property taxes. I don’t know what he has to do with our energy rate,” he said.
The release of military records
Ciattarelli repeatedly raised questions about Sherrill’s time in the Navy after it was revealed that the congresswoman did not participate in her 1994 graduation from the Naval Academy amid fallout that year from a well-documented cheating scandal.
Sherrill has said she was barred from walking because she did not turn in her classmates and has seized on the fact that her unredacted records were released by the National Archives to a Republican operative close to Ciattarelli’s campaign. That release is now under investigation.
Ciattarelli’s campaign has called on her to release additional records to back up that defense, which she has declined.
“If she’s so transparent, then approve the release of her disciplinary records at the Naval Academy so we can know why it is that she was punished,” he said. “I think she was punished for something else,” he said, accusing her of “trying to create a giant smoke screen” by focusing on the records' improper release.
Sherrill, who went on to graduate and was commissioned as an officer in Navy, stressed that she had held multiple positions of trust, including as a pilot, and suggested Ciattarelli played a role in obtaining the documents.
“Either he’s really incompetent or he’s lying,” she charged.
Shutdown and the Hudson River tunnel
The federal government shutdown, now in its second week, loomed large during the debate, with both candidates saying they hoped for a speedy resolution.
But they clashed over its impact on the Gateway project, for which the administration has frozen funds as they review its compliance with its diversity policies.
“The bad news is there’s a shutdown right now. I hope it ends any moment,” Ciattarelli said. He called the project “critically important,” but claimed that it was not being impacted by the president's orders yet.
“The construction is not stopping. This shutdown would have to go on for two or three months before the gateway project would run to a halt,” he claimed.
Sherrill, who has advocated for project funding throughout her time in office and has sharply criticized the freeze, said she would sue the Trump administration to try to restore the funding.
Affordability and who’s to blame
Sherrill says she’ll issue an executive order freezing utility rates, which have climbed steadily over the summer. Ciattarelli blasted the plan as an “illegitimate plan that isn’t feasible.”
Ciattarelli talked up his plans for capping sky-high property taxes as a percentage of home value.
Ciattarelli has blamed the economic woes on longtime Democratic control of the state Legislature and the governorship for the past eight years. Calling for a change in Trenton has been a central plank of his campaign.
Sherrill, meanwhile, points to the president’s tariffs and trade wars as the cause of voters’ belt tightening. She regularly asks voters to elect her to stand up to Trump’s policies, which she casts as out of touch in the Democratic-leaning state.
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Colvin reported from New York.