Gov. Phil Murphy said he hears you and he feels your pain. Lawmakers, likewise, say they got the message from voters in the general election. Voters sent some Democratic lawmakers packing and elected some real red Republicans whose campaigns framed the election as a time to return to pocketbook issues and away from what some called hashtag issues.
“Affordability is the number one issue. People are leaving the state. Taxes continue to be high. Cost of living is high. Housing and health care [are] high. Those are the issues we should be tackling, not these wedge issues,” said Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth).
“We’re going back to the number one problem that New Jerseyans have regarding the state for literally 50 years, the 50 years that we have been polling in New Jersey — taxes, property taxes,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.
