Shlomo Schorr
In the first debate of this year’s election cycle, New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy clashed with his Republican opponent, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, arguing over issues such as the state’s response to the pandemic, taxes, abortions, driver licenses for illegal immigrants, and many other topics.
Held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, where the two men were meeting in their first head-to-head matchup of the 2021 gubernatorial race, Ciattarelli began by slamming Murphy, who is seeking to become the first Democrat Governor New Jersey to win re-election since 1977, over his response to the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically mentioning the deaths of nursing home residents.
“He asked the nursing home to do the impossible,” Ciattarelli said, referencing Murphy’s heavily criticized order in the early days of the pandemic which required nursing home residents to be sent back from hospitals regardless of their COVID-19 status.
Murphy defended his record, saying the long-term-care facilities were given “crystal clear” rules requiring the separation of coronavirus patients by floor, wing or building and by staff to prevent the viral spread.
“Early on, we had no playbook,” Murphy said, while describing the deaths as “tragic.”
“Remember, these folks live in these places … so they were obviously always going to go back, but we were very, very clear, explicitly clear: If you go back, you’ve got to be separated,” he added.
Of the at least 27,488 New Jersey residents who have died from the pandemic since March 2020, at least 8,552 of them were among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
On vaccines and masks, however, Murphy criticized Ciattarelli for opposing mask mandates and saying it should be a parent’s choice whether kids wear masks in schools.
“Saying it’s your call…on ‘no masking’ is akin to supporting drunk driving,” Murphy alleged. “We can’t beat it that way.”
Ciattarelli responded that he has been vaccinated and thinks people should get vaccinated as well, but noted he draws a distinction at what government should be requiring.
“Do I believe government has a right to tell people that they have to take a medicine? No.”
In a rare moment of agreement, Ciattarelli said he agreed with Murphy’s order requiring teachers to get vaccinated or undergo testing, saying people should have a choice.
One of the debate’s most heated moments came during a discussion on protests both candidates had attended: Murphy at “Black Lives Matter” rallies following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in the summer of 2020, and Ciattarelli at a “Stop the Steal” rally following the 2020 presidential election where he was a featured speaker.
“I didn’t see any of those signs,” Ciattarelli said, referring to “Stop the Steal” posters at the rally and an attendee holding a Confederate flag.” If they were there, I don’t think I should be held responsible. I never held the governor responsible for attending rallies where people held signs that said ‘defund the police’ or ‘no justice, no peace.'”
“When did ‘No justice, no peace’ become controversial,” Murphy retorted. “This rises to the level of disqualifying. Come on, man. Your picture and name were on the invitation [to the rally].”
“There is video. There were confederate flags,” Murphy said, calling it “the exact same cocktail” as the January 6th riot at the Capitol, noting that “people died.”
“You mean like the people in the nursing homes and Tropical Storm Ida,” Ciattarelli shot back.
Ciattarelli then brought up a comment Murphy once made regarding taxes in the state: “If you want to talk about disqualifiers: ‘If taxes are your issue, “New Jersey may not be the state for you.”’ Ciattarelli said, referring to a Murphy comment in which he was making a point that the state’s taxes may be high but that it provides good services.
But in a surprising move, Murphy then pledged that if re-elected, he would not raise taxes again.
Ciattarelli also made news of his own when he said for the first time said that he supports a law Murphy signed that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses – a law which Ciattarelli previously criticized as allowing “those here illegally to go to the front of the line.
“With regard to undocumented immigrants getting a license, I believe that’s a great security measure,” he said during the debate.
Ciattarelli also accused the governor of waiting too long to declare a State of Emergency as the remnants of Hurricane Ida — which killed 30 people in New Jersey — approached the state.
“If ever we needed a ‘get the hell off the beach’ moment, this was it,” Ciattarelli declared, paraphrasing a famous line from former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, to which Murphy responded that he had been warning residents about the storm all day.
On abortion, Murphy noted that when in the Assembly, Ciattarelli voted against providing funding for women’s health services, including for Planned Parenthood and claimed he opponent wanted to turn New Jersey into Texas.
For his part, Ciattarelli disavowed the Texas law and said he supports Roe v. Wade, but not late-term abortions.
Although the debate likely helped Ciattarelli gain some ground in the race, he still remains a longshot to win the governorship in a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by more than 1 million voters.
The latest poll, released the day after the debate, showed Ciattarelli trailing Murphy by 9 points – though that margin was closer than any other poll to date. 9% of voters polled said they were undecided or didn’t like either candidate, according to the poll, which also gave Murphy a 54% approval rating.
The two candidates will meet again for their second and final debate at 8 p.m. on October 12th at Rowan University in Glassboro. It will be broadcast live on WNYC radio (820AM and 93.9FM), as well as live-streamed on njspotlightnews.com, YouTube and the WNYC and Rowan University websites.
A debate between the two lieutenant governor candidates, Democrat Sheila Oliver, the current lieutenant governor who also serves commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, and former Republican state Senator Diane Allen took place Tuesday night at Rider University.
The three debates are required by state law because the candidates chose to accept public financing for their campaigns. The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission chose the debate sponsors.
For the first time, New Jersey will have early in-person voting which will run from October 23-31. Election Day is November 2.
