June 9, 2025 • 6 mins
Mike Kelly joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the NJ Governors race and who he thinks has the upper hand as we get closer to November.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now let's bring in Mike Kelly, award winning columnist
for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Good morning Mike.
So go ahead and set the stage for this primary.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, Larry. Not even the stage of this primary
is kind of like just drawing a big question mark.
I think I think the Democrats are trying to find
themselves Republicans. You're absolutely right. I've been listening to your
commentary earlier this morning. I think it's Jack Chittarelli's race
to lose, not only in the primary, but I will
(00:32):
walk even farther than this and say I think it's
Jack Chittarelli's race to lose in November. To me, he
is the candidate who has the most clear message right now.
That could change, of course, you know, but right now
I think he's the He's the candidate who seems to
be on top of the messaging. And here in New Jersey,
(00:54):
everybody says, oh, it's a blue state. And again, you
and I have talked about this a lot. It's really
not a blue state. Yes, there are more registered Democrats
than Republicans, although the Republican registry is rising, but I'd
call it a purple state. There's a lot of voters
in the middle who flip back and forth, and that's
why we go from Chris Christia's governor for eight years
(01:17):
and then we go to Phil Murphy for eight years.
So I think the time is right for Republicans to
seize this question as will they do it?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, there's two strange trends that are competing in this election.
One is that no new governor of somebody running for
the first time has ever won as a Democrat. If
a Republican his office is an office and has never
won as a Republican. If a Democrat is in the
presidency is in the White House. So that's one trend
(01:46):
that would favor, of course, whoever the Democrat is. But also,
nobody's won three times in a row. There's no Republican
that has held that three elections in a row, and
no Democrat that's held it three elections in a row.
That would favor Jack Chittarelli. So you're you're thinking that
(02:06):
the one that's going to go is that it's going
to be Cheddarelli, even though Trump's in office. Doesn't a
lot of that depend on what Trump does over the
next several months.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh yeah, I mean look at what's happened just in
the past week. You know, last week we thought, oh
my goodness, here Trump is now going to crumble. The
exhibit A was the big, you know, mean girl's fight
he had with Elon Musk. Suddenly I feel like the
needle has shifted a bit with with what's going on
in Los Angeles. The Democrats there have given Trump a gift.
(02:39):
He must be he must be on his knees so
grateful that he doesn't have to talk about Elon Musk anymore.
He could talk about you know, California and Governor Newsom.
So you know, the luck is heading toward Trump again
and again and again. And I I, of course that
could change in the fall. You know, we'll have to
(03:01):
keep an eye on the economy and with the tariffs
due to it and that sort of thing, and that
will directly affect the New Jersey race. But right now
I see the Democratic field as really still trying to
find himself up. I've written a whole series of columns
leading up to this primary about, you know, what the
Democrats need to do and what they haven't done, And
right now I think it's really a party trying to
(03:23):
you know, find it's footing.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I think it's also a party. I watched the debate.
It seems to be a party trying to find the
middle because not Ross Baraka, but the most of the
rest of them have seemed to change their policies just
a little bit to seem now, I would argue, more
sane than the Democratic Party has been for the last
(03:47):
four years. And if that is the case, I would
think that would favor someone like Josh Gottheimer.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I know, I actually thought Godheimer had a real leg
up going into this selection because he came out of
the box focused on what I would call kitchen table issues,
how can you afford to live in New Jersey where
taxes seemed to be rising, etc. That sort of thing.
But Gottheimer's message never really caught on, and I think
that's going to be really one of the great questions
(04:15):
coming out of this primary, because he's an enormously attractive candidate.
He really comes from a district here in northern New
Jersey that where there is a substantial number of Trump voters,
very conservative, but also a large number of moderates, and
also a very very loud, powerful progressive corner of the
(04:37):
Democratic Party. And he's managed to cross all of those bridges,
and he does that I think very well in Congress
as as one of the chair people of the so
called problem Solvers Conference. I think the fact that Gottheimer
never really found his footing in this selection is going
to be one of the great stories coming out of it.
And I don't think he's going to win. I think
(04:59):
it's going to be Mikey Cheryl, but I don't think
she's going to win in any kind of landslader with
any great mandate here. She's you know, she's basically got
somewhere in the high twenty percentile in all the polls,
and that's not great for a candidate running for a
statewide office.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Hey, just real quickly and we can talk about this
more as we go along. Give me one thing the
Democrats need to do in New Jersey to win.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Build something. I wrote. I wrote this column over the weekend.
And you know, the Democrats are great at saying they
want to, you know, have this sort of paper type program,
build something, build railroads, build fix roads, that sort of thing,
and don't take so long. I suggested ways to you know,
(05:46):
build where the new governor of New Jersey could could
require the poort authority to fix the George Washington Bridge
in less than ten years and told to build the
bus terminal in Midtown Manhattan in less than ten years.
I just think that, you know, we are a country
that builds things, at least we used to be, and
we don't do that anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
That is a tremendous point. Mike Kelly is an award
winning columnist for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Mike,
appreciate it. We'll go through some of the other things
in the weeks to come. Appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Stay well, Eric, take care,
And now let's bring in Mike Kelly, award winning columnist
for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Good morning Mike.
So go ahead and set the stage for this primary.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, Larry. Not even the stage of this primary
is kind of like just drawing a big question mark.
I think I think the Democrats are trying to find
themselves Republicans. You're absolutely right. I've been listening to your
commentary earlier this morning. I think it's Jack Chittarelli's race
to lose, not only in the primary, but I will
(00:32):
walk even farther than this and say I think it's
Jack Chittarelli's race to lose in November. To me, he
is the candidate who has the most clear message right now.
That could change, of course, you know, but right now
I think he's the He's the candidate who seems to
be on top of the messaging. And here in New Jersey,
(00:54):
everybody says, oh, it's a blue state. And again, you
and I have talked about this a lot. It's really
not a blue state. Yes, there are more registered Democrats
than Republicans, although the Republican registry is rising, but I'd
call it a purple state. There's a lot of voters
in the middle who flip back and forth, and that's
why we go from Chris Christia's governor for eight years
(01:17):
and then we go to Phil Murphy for eight years.
So I think the time is right for Republicans to
seize this question as will they do it?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, there's two strange trends that are competing in this election.
One is that no new governor of somebody running for
the first time has ever won as a Democrat. If
a Republican his office is an office and has never
won as a Republican. If a Democrat is in the
presidency is in the White House. So that's one trend
(01:46):
that would favor, of course, whoever the Democrat is. But also,
nobody's won three times in a row. There's no Republican
that has held that three elections in a row, and
no Democrat that's held it three elections in a row.
That would favor Jack Chittarelli. So you're you're thinking that
(02:06):
the one that's going to go is that it's going
to be Cheddarelli, even though Trump's in office. Doesn't a
lot of that depend on what Trump does over the
next several months.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh yeah, I mean look at what's happened just in
the past week. You know, last week we thought, oh
my goodness, here Trump is now going to crumble. The
exhibit A was the big, you know, mean girl's fight
he had with Elon Musk. Suddenly I feel like the
needle has shifted a bit with with what's going on
in Los Angeles. The Democrats there have given Trump a gift.
(02:39):
He must be he must be on his knees so
grateful that he doesn't have to talk about Elon Musk anymore.
He could talk about you know, California and Governor Newsom.
So you know, the luck is heading toward Trump again
and again and again. And I I, of course that
could change in the fall. You know, we'll have to
(03:01):
keep an eye on the economy and with the tariffs
due to it and that sort of thing, and that
will directly affect the New Jersey race. But right now
I see the Democratic field as really still trying to
find himself up. I've written a whole series of columns
leading up to this primary about, you know, what the
Democrats need to do and what they haven't done, And
right now I think it's really a party trying to
(03:23):
you know, find it's footing.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I think it's also a party. I watched the debate.
It seems to be a party trying to find the
middle because not Ross Baraka, but the most of the
rest of them have seemed to change their policies just
a little bit to seem now, I would argue, more
sane than the Democratic Party has been for the last
(03:47):
four years. And if that is the case, I would
think that would favor someone like Josh Gottheimer.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I know, I actually thought Godheimer had a real leg
up going into this selection because he came out of
the box focused on what I would call kitchen table issues,
how can you afford to live in New Jersey where
taxes seemed to be rising, etc. That sort of thing.
But Gottheimer's message never really caught on, and I think
that's going to be really one of the great questions
(04:15):
coming out of this primary, because he's an enormously attractive candidate.
He really comes from a district here in northern New
Jersey that where there is a substantial number of Trump voters,
very conservative, but also a large number of moderates, and
also a very very loud, powerful progressive corner of the
(04:37):
Democratic Party. And he's managed to cross all of those bridges,
and he does that I think very well in Congress
as as one of the chair people of the so
called problem Solvers Conference. I think the fact that Gottheimer
never really found his footing in this selection is going
to be one of the great stories coming out of it.
And I don't think he's going to win. I think
(04:59):
it's going to be Mikey Cheryl, but I don't think
she's going to win in any kind of landslader with
any great mandate here. She's you know, she's basically got
somewhere in the high twenty percentile in all the polls,
and that's not great for a candidate running for a
statewide office.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Hey, just real quickly and we can talk about this
more as we go along. Give me one thing the
Democrats need to do in New Jersey to win.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Build something. I wrote. I wrote this column over the weekend.
And you know, the Democrats are great at saying they
want to, you know, have this sort of paper type program,
build something, build railroads, build fix roads, that sort of thing,
and don't take so long. I suggested ways to you know,
(05:46):
build where the new governor of New Jersey could could
require the poort authority to fix the George Washington Bridge
in less than ten years and told to build the
bus terminal in Midtown Manhattan in less than ten years.
I just think that, you know, we are a country
that builds things, at least we used to be, and
we don't do that anymore.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
That is a tremendous point. Mike Kelly is an award
winning columnist for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Mike,
appreciate it. We'll go through some of the other things
in the weeks to come. Appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Stay well, Eric, take care,
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