Credit: (Steve Hockstein/NJ Advance Media via AP, Pool, File)The major-party nominees seeking to become New Jersey’s next governor are a former state lawmaker hoping his third try is the charm and a sitting congresswoman seeking her first statewide office.
The two standard-bearers for their parties, Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill, prevailed Tuesday after a contentious, crowded primary election.
In all, nearly a dozen different candidates sought the seat currently held by Democrat Phil Murphy, who was barred by the state Constitution’s term limits from seeking reelection.
As the focus now shifts to November’s general election, voters will choose between a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump in Ciattarelli, and a frequent critic of Trump’s administration in Sherrill.
But how the two candidates feel about the president is not the only issue where they appear to disagree, according to NJ Spotlight News coverage of the primary election.
Ciattarelli and Sherrill offer voters different visions across a number of key issues, from taxes to housing to voting itself.
Here’s a closer look at the two candidates, including what policies they are promising to enact if elected governor to address issues identified by voters this year as their top concerns.
Jack Ciattarelli: Republican
Age: 63
Hometown: Somerville
Occupation: Entrepreneur/Former business owner/Former state assemblyman
Credit: (NJ Spotlight News)Affordability: Ciattarelli proposes a number of tax cuts, although he does not provide many specifics. He said he would reduce income taxes for all taxpayers, consolidate tax brackets, end the taxation of retirement income and make student loan interest tax-deductible.
Ciattarelli would cap property taxes to a percent of a home’s assessment and expand the Senior Freeze program. He pledged to reduce the Corporation Business Tax, estimated to bring in about $4.5 billion in revenue in the current fiscal year, by 1% a year for five years.
He would make cuts “across the board throughout the entire budget” to pay for his proposals. In terms of the school portion of the property tax, he said he would “more equitably distribute” $15 billion in state education funding to lower property taxes, although a redistribution would likely lead to tax increases in districts that would lose aid.
Housing: Ciattarelli said during a debate-like event hosted by NJ PBS and WNYC Radio that New Jersey’s affordable housing law is “overdeveloping suburbs, where there’s no mass transit, no infrastructure, no jobs.” He would seek to repeal the law and argue before the New Jersey Supreme Court, whose decisions in this area have required all communities to build their “fair share” of needed affordable homes, that the new law is not sustainable, especially based on other state laws governing stormwater management and flood mitigation.
Adding more housing units to urban areas would help revitalize them — including local businesses, he said after the conversation, adding, “We’ve got to get people to live in our urban centers again, and I think we do that with compelling affordable housing, safe communities, great public schools and recreational opportunities.”
On his campaign website, Ciattarelli said he would support housing growth in urban centers and at transit hubs and the use of regional contribution agreements — currently banned in the state — to allow municipalities to pay other towns to take their housing obligations.
Democracy: On his campaign website, Ciattarelli lists a number of proposals regarding government. He said he wants an eight-year term limit for all state legislators “to promote fresh ideas and new leadership in state government.” He also would break from the tradition of keeping a partisan balance on the state Supreme Court and would nominate “the best and most qualified” candidates, regardless of party affiliation, although he would likely run into opposition from a Senate that must confirm judicial nominees as long as it is controlled by Democrats.
Ciattarelli proposes a number of election-related changes. He said he would require voter ID at the polls and require all people using mail-in ballots to prove their identity and citizenship before getting a ballot. He said he would end the process of counting ballots postmarked by Election Day but received after close of polls. He would expand the number of early in-person voting sites and the number of early in-person voting days before primaries.
Ciattarelli would expand voter registration opportunities beyond motor vehicles transactions to those getting hunting, fishing or trapping licenses, gun permits, business licenses and construction permits. He would allow for the counting of mail-in ballots 25 days before an election, with the results posted within 30 minutes of close of polls. And he would create a voter fraud task force within the attorney general’s office.
Abortion rights: On his campaign website, Ciattarelli said he would prohibit elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and opposes the state’s 2022 law protecting a woman’s right to make reproductive decisions, support parental notification for minors seeking abortions, oppose taxpayer funding of abortion and support education and other approaches to reducing teen and unwanted pregnancies. His website also said that “with certain reasonable exceptions/restrictions agreed upon by the vast majority of Americans, this decision should be between a woman, her partner, her faith and her health care professionals.”
Mikie Sherrill: Democrat
Age: 53
Hometown: Montclair
Occupation: Congresswoman (D-11th)/ Former federal prosecutor/Former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot
Credit: (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)Affordability: Rising health care costs are a major driver of property-tax increases, Sherrill said, and she would seek to audit State Health Benefits Program claims and claw back overpayments to help keep costs down. While not providing specifics, Sherrill also supports expanding the state child tax credit of up to $1,000 per child and Earned Income Tax Credit, a benefit for low-wage workers that currently ranges from $253 to $3,132 depending on income and the number of children in a family.
Sherrill would implement a new caregiver assistance tax credit for those caring for senior family members. She also wants to redesign and revive the back-to-school sales tax holiday to help with the cost of school supplies. She said she would also “close tax loopholes and crack down” on tax cheats, passing the savings along to working families.
Housing: During one of the primary debates, Sherrill said she would make the state’s first-time home buyer program, which provides a maximum $15,000 in down-payment assistance, “more robust,” without providing details. She also pledged to streamline state permitting by eliminating redundancies among offices and set deadlines for project approvals.
Sherrill has a six-point housing plan in which she pledges to increase access to loans and tax credits, provide technical help and incentives to municipalities to build a range of housing options, including starter homes and in-law apartments, and oppose fund diversions from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
“We should work collaboratively with local governments on the conversion of underused office parks, strip malls, and industrial properties into homes, transit-oriented development, and mixed-use projects, which increases housing inventory while minimizing sprawl,” she states in that plan.
Sherrill also said she would crack down on predatory investors, landlords and lenders who are buying up rental properties, colluding to set rents above market levels and who don’t take care of their buildings.
Democracy: Sherrill does not list democracy-related issues on her website. Answering questions on a number of issues during an Action Together New Jersey forum, Sherrill said she supports same-day voter registration and a system that would automatically send a mail-in ballot to all registered voters for all elections.
In completing NJ Spotlight’s voter guide, Sherrill said she would appoint an “aggressive” attorney general to take Trump to court to defend the state and against federal funding cuts.
Abortion rights: Sherrill says on her campaign website that she “strongly” supports enshrining the right to an abortion in the state Constitution to permanently protect reproductive freedom. She also called for the state to require comprehensive insurance coverage for all reproductive health care services, including abortion. She would expand access to contraception and fertility services so that everyone can afford family planning services. And earlier this week, Sherrill said she would stockpile mifepristone, the abortion pill, and strengthen protections for providers.
— Colleen O’Dea contributed reporting.
