May 27, 2025 • 7 mins
New Jersey's Governor's race is a huge testing point for the democrats. Looking at the polls it looks like Democrats have low odds for winning the race so far. The Dems have to find a new way of attracting votes. New Jersey has multiple issues, including high taxes, transportation debates and more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's go to Mike Kelly, an award winning columnists
for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Mike, good morning,
Good morning Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
First, I have a question for you. Yep, you are
watching the View.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, I see the clips of the View. I see
the clips of the View because I kind of have
to to make fun of them, you know what I mean,
So I have to. I watched the clips and I go, oh,
they look stupid there, and then I can play it
the next morning. That's why I watch this.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Is this is job related suffering that you are experiencing Europe.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Absolutely, absolutely no, I'd go crazy if I had to
watch that. If I had to watch the entire hour,
I don't know. I don't think I've ever watched the
entire hour of the View, to tell you the truth,
speaking of.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Which, it's unwatchable. It's just it's just I'm not even
quite sure how to describe it. But yes, I was
listening to your commentary earlier. That's why I brought it up. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, it used to be fun when they had real
conservatives on there. It used to be fun when they
get into it, like with Megan McCain. That was that
was kind of interesting because at least you had both sides.
Now it's just you know, a Trump rose, so it's nothing.
Let's talk about the governor's race. Let's talk about the
governor's race. I love your I love your column. By
the way, New Jersey's twenty twenty five governor's race is
(01:15):
a test for Democrats. Can they pass it? If you
want to read it, go to North Jersey dot com.
The polls are all over the place. It was interesting.
I thought, I thought the most recent poll out of
Emerson showed Mikey Cheryl pulling away a little bit. But
you're saying that, you're saying that soft.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I think so. First of all, that poll focused on
older voters. Older I fit that bill people in their
fifties and up. But I think what we need to
keep an eye on here, Larry, are two things. First
of all, it's a primary, and turnout is traditionally very
low in a primary. Only the most committed party members
(01:59):
often vote in a primary, so I think this race
could be decided by a few thousand votes here or there,
which even though Mikey Cheryl is leading in the polls,
not by a lot, but leading enough, I think we
need to keep an eye on full Of and ros Baraka.
(02:21):
Why because they they represent each represents voter rich and
Democratic heavy cities. Full Of is obviously in Jersey City,
ros Baraka is in Newark, And I think if those
two guys can get a large turnout in their in
their communities, they might have a chance. I'd call the
(02:45):
race right now a kind of a toss up because
I just don't think anybody's really pulling away. And also,
and you and I have talked about this before, nobody's
really captured the imagination of the voters with either proposals
they have or or personality or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm glad you clarified the Emerson the Emerson poll because
I didn't. I didn't see that that it was only
older voters. But they're the ones that vote. The older voters,
you can get them out of the polls. It's tougher
to get everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well House, that's true. I don't think, yeah, that's true.
I don't think this is going to be a gen
Z election here. I think you're going to get a
lot of As I said in my column, what the
Democrats are missing is what I think is the heart
of the conversation with New Jersey voters today, be they
Republicans or Democrats, it's all about kitchen table issues. And
(03:36):
it's not just about taxes. It's about the roads we
drive on. They're horrible. It's about the transit system that
continues to break down and looks like a rustbucket. I'm
sorry they can't even fix the windows in the trains
on New Jersey Transit. They're all fogged up, so when
you're riding on the train, you don't know what station
(03:57):
you're pulling into because it's like, you know, it's like
those foggy windows and bathrooms or so people can't see
in or out. You know, it's just just a joke,
and the government doesn't seem to be functioning in a
way that it should, and I think voters are starting
to notice that.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Well, they took their eyes off of that. The entire
Democratic Party took their eyes off the things that are
important to voters and started focusing on you know, transgender
issues and parental rights and woke issues. And they're still
suffering from that. When I watch these the Democratic politicians,
and I like many of them, I know many of them.
When I see them running, I'm thinking, my god, they
(04:37):
still don't have a message, and so I think you're
right in this column that it portends a disaster for
them in New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Oh, I agree. I think you know, a lot of
people look to New Jersey and these off year elections
as where the direction of American politics is going, because
you know, here we've elected Donald Trump last year, so
now we're coming into this what, you know, what is
allegedly a very democratic state. I would argue that it's
much more purple than people think, and that we're going
(05:10):
to have some kind of message out of this election.
I think the message is going to be for Democrats
that you guys need to really look in the mirror
and focus on yourselves. You know, I've been very critical
of Phil Murphy as a governor, and I think he
is just an egghead. He's just out of touch with
where this state is going visa visa voters. And as
(05:32):
I said, it gets back to basic issues in our society.
What can government do? Can they make our roads better,
Can they fix the transit system? That sort of thing,
and that extends over into schools as well. I mean,
New Jersey has some of the best schools in the country.
But it also has some of the oldest school buildings,
(05:53):
and I think we need to start addressing how do
we educate our kids in buildings that's times are fifty
sixty seventy eighty one hundred years old.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, you know, I never thought about this before, but
he is sort of. Phil Murphy's like the antithesis of
Donald Trump. Donald Trump's billionaire who somehow connects with them
the everyday man. Phil Murphy has hundreds of millions of
dollars as a mansion in Europe. He never was able
to connect ever.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
No, he's kind of a he's kind of a he's
an awkward guy. He you know, I think to be
a politician you need to be able to get out
there and talk to folks and shake their hands and
that sort of thing. And one of the things that
I've noticed about Phil Murphy's daily schedule is that he
does these appearances, you know, ribbon cuttings, that sort of thing.
He probably covered a thousand of these things, so have I.
(06:44):
But at the very end of the announcement it says
no availability, meaning he's not going to come over and
just answer a question or two from the reporters. And
this is I think this is how high ranking politicians
like that should stay in touch. I mean, you know,
whether it was Aty Cuomo or George Pataki here in
(07:06):
uh I mean over there in New York, or you
got Chris Christi here in New Jersey, or even you know,
some of the others, even Corzon, who was you know,
in many ways an awkward politician. These guys would at
least answer a question or two here and there. Murphy
is just in his own little bubble, kind of floating
through the.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
World, and he's acting like, you know, Mike, he's acting
like he knows it's over right now, Like I think
he wanted to run for president at one point, but
I think it's over. We got to get going on.
I know, yeah, yeah, I know. Mike Kelly's an award
winning columnist for North Jersey dot Com and The Record.
You can read his stuff at North Jersey dot Com.
Thanks a lot, Mike, Thanks laic Ticket
Now let's go to Mike Kelly, an award winning columnists
for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Mike, good morning,
Good morning Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
First, I have a question for you. Yep, you are
watching the View.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, I see the clips of the View. I see
the clips of the View because I kind of have
to to make fun of them, you know what I mean,
So I have to. I watched the clips and I go, oh,
they look stupid there, and then I can play it
the next morning. That's why I watch this.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Is this is job related suffering that you are experiencing Europe.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Absolutely, absolutely no, I'd go crazy if I had to
watch that. If I had to watch the entire hour,
I don't know. I don't think I've ever watched the
entire hour of the View, to tell you the truth,
speaking of.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Which, it's unwatchable. It's just it's just I'm not even
quite sure how to describe it. But yes, I was
listening to your commentary earlier. That's why I brought it up. Anyway.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, it used to be fun when they had real
conservatives on there. It used to be fun when they
get into it, like with Megan McCain. That was that
was kind of interesting because at least you had both sides.
Now it's just you know, a Trump rose, so it's nothing.
Let's talk about the governor's race. Let's talk about the
governor's race. I love your I love your column. By
the way, New Jersey's twenty twenty five governor's race is
(01:15):
a test for Democrats. Can they pass it? If you
want to read it, go to North Jersey dot com.
The polls are all over the place. It was interesting.
I thought, I thought the most recent poll out of
Emerson showed Mikey Cheryl pulling away a little bit. But
you're saying that, you're saying that soft.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I think so. First of all, that poll focused on
older voters. Older I fit that bill people in their
fifties and up. But I think what we need to
keep an eye on here, Larry, are two things. First
of all, it's a primary, and turnout is traditionally very
low in a primary. Only the most committed party members
(01:59):
often vote in a primary, so I think this race
could be decided by a few thousand votes here or there,
which even though Mikey Cheryl is leading in the polls,
not by a lot, but leading enough, I think we
need to keep an eye on full Of and ros Baraka.
(02:21):
Why because they they represent each represents voter rich and
Democratic heavy cities. Full Of is obviously in Jersey City,
ros Baraka is in Newark, And I think if those
two guys can get a large turnout in their in
their communities, they might have a chance. I'd call the
(02:45):
race right now a kind of a toss up because
I just don't think anybody's really pulling away. And also,
and you and I have talked about this before, nobody's
really captured the imagination of the voters with either proposals
they have or or personality or anything like that.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm glad you clarified the Emerson the Emerson poll because
I didn't. I didn't see that that it was only
older voters. But they're the ones that vote. The older voters,
you can get them out of the polls. It's tougher
to get everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Well House, that's true. I don't think, yeah, that's true.
I don't think this is going to be a gen
Z election here. I think you're going to get a
lot of As I said in my column, what the
Democrats are missing is what I think is the heart
of the conversation with New Jersey voters today, be they
Republicans or Democrats, it's all about kitchen table issues. And
(03:36):
it's not just about taxes. It's about the roads we
drive on. They're horrible. It's about the transit system that
continues to break down and looks like a rustbucket. I'm
sorry they can't even fix the windows in the trains
on New Jersey Transit. They're all fogged up, so when
you're riding on the train, you don't know what station
(03:57):
you're pulling into because it's like, you know, it's like
those foggy windows and bathrooms or so people can't see
in or out. You know, it's just just a joke,
and the government doesn't seem to be functioning in a
way that it should, and I think voters are starting
to notice that.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Well, they took their eyes off of that. The entire
Democratic Party took their eyes off the things that are
important to voters and started focusing on you know, transgender
issues and parental rights and woke issues. And they're still
suffering from that. When I watch these the Democratic politicians,
and I like many of them, I know many of them.
When I see them running, I'm thinking, my god, they
(04:37):
still don't have a message, and so I think you're
right in this column that it portends a disaster for
them in New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Oh, I agree. I think you know, a lot of
people look to New Jersey and these off year elections
as where the direction of American politics is going, because
you know, here we've elected Donald Trump last year, so
now we're coming into this what, you know, what is
allegedly a very democratic state. I would argue that it's
much more purple than people think, and that we're going
(05:10):
to have some kind of message out of this election.
I think the message is going to be for Democrats
that you guys need to really look in the mirror
and focus on yourselves. You know, I've been very critical
of Phil Murphy as a governor, and I think he
is just an egghead. He's just out of touch with
where this state is going visa visa voters. And as
(05:32):
I said, it gets back to basic issues in our society.
What can government do? Can they make our roads better,
Can they fix the transit system? That sort of thing,
and that extends over into schools as well. I mean,
New Jersey has some of the best schools in the country.
But it also has some of the oldest school buildings,
(05:53):
and I think we need to start addressing how do
we educate our kids in buildings that's times are fifty
sixty seventy eighty one hundred years old.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Yeah, you know, I never thought about this before, but
he is sort of. Phil Murphy's like the antithesis of
Donald Trump. Donald Trump's billionaire who somehow connects with them
the everyday man. Phil Murphy has hundreds of millions of
dollars as a mansion in Europe. He never was able
to connect ever.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
No, he's kind of a he's kind of a he's
an awkward guy. He you know, I think to be
a politician you need to be able to get out
there and talk to folks and shake their hands and
that sort of thing. And one of the things that
I've noticed about Phil Murphy's daily schedule is that he
does these appearances, you know, ribbon cuttings, that sort of thing.
He probably covered a thousand of these things, so have I.
(06:44):
But at the very end of the announcement it says
no availability, meaning he's not going to come over and
just answer a question or two from the reporters. And
this is I think this is how high ranking politicians
like that should stay in touch. I mean, you know,
whether it was Aty Cuomo or George Pataki here in
(07:06):
uh I mean over there in New York, or you
got Chris Christi here in New Jersey, or even you know,
some of the others, even Corzon, who was you know,
in many ways an awkward politician. These guys would at
least answer a question or two here and there. Murphy
is just in his own little bubble, kind of floating
through the.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
World, and he's acting like, you know, Mike, he's acting
like he knows it's over right now, Like I think
he wanted to run for president at one point, but
I think it's over. We got to get going on.
I know, yeah, yeah, I know. Mike Kelly's an award
winning columnist for North Jersey dot Com and The Record.
You can read his stuff at North Jersey dot Com.
Thanks a lot, Mike, Thanks laic Ticket
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