Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli had their first debate in New Jersey’s 2025 gubernatorial race on Sunday night, discussing the assassination of Charlie Kirk, energy prices, education, the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill,’ vaccines, and transgender issues. One thing they agree on is the perennial issue of New Jersey’s fractured municipal governments and school districts. “Right now we have more municipalities than California, and we have more school districts than municipalities, and it’s raising costs on everybody,” Sherrill said. Ciattarelli agreed, but suggested incentives, not mandates, to get towns to consolidate: “We are a home rule state, and people love their home rule, even though it might cost more in taxes. I do not believe that our state government should force consolidation. That’s up to the locals. But I’ll tell you what, if you do consolidate or if you do regionalize, Gov. Ciattarelli will help incentivize that to make it easier.” “I think it’s the responsibility of any public official and candidate for office to engage in rhetoric that doesn’t divide us,” Ciattarelli said about Charlie Kirk. “My opponent on Friday went down to Washington, voted yes on a resolution to celebrate Charlie Kirk’s life but then, within minutes, sent out a statement that basically condemned him. I think that was wrong.” “That’s a neat trick to say you don’t want to divide people and then in your answer bring up something that’s very divisive,” Sherrill replied. “I care deeply about this country. I stand against political violence,” she said. “The videos that came out about, after Charlie Kirk’s shooting, were horrific, and I feel horrible because my kids have seen them, and so I can’t even imagine how the Kirk family feels. And that should never happen to anyone because they speak out.” Ciattarelli said he wants to address exploding energy prices in the Garden State following the closure of two major power plants without using wind power: “Anybody who’s from New Jersey would know that the Jersey Shore is sacrosanct, here at the state, nobody wants wind farms off our Jersey Shore.” “Let’s face it, some of our utility companies have made over a billion dollars in profits, and yet our ratepayers are constantly suffering,” Sherrill replied. “I am laser-focused on driving down costs for families like yours. I’m going to declare a state of emergency on day one, freezing your rate hikes. I’m going to demand transparency and accountability from our government to save you time and money.” Sherrill also condemned the Trump administration for questioning the safety of vaccines: “New Jersey parents should be very worried. We just had back to school, so many of the parents know there’s a lot going around. These are eminently curable diseases, and we are allowing children to get sick and, yes, die because we are not appropriately following medical research vaccine protocol.” Ciattarelli also expressed support for vaccines, but quickly pivoted to gender issues: “I just wish my opponent showed the same concern when it came to biological males participating in female sports.” Jack Ciattarelli will tell anybody whatever they want to hear. And I think we just saw that tonight,” Sherrill said. “He hasn’t actually stood up for vaccines. He hasn’t stood against RFK. He hasn’t mentioned anything about firing the head of the CDC. He doesn’t mention anything about how Trump’s appointee gets most of his medical information on TikTok and reels. This is not somebody who’s going to keep our kids healthy.”
RealClearPolitics Videos