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New Jersey had its say on Tuesday who will be running to replace term-limited Phil Murphy in the Governor’s mansion in Trenton next year. Representative Mikie Sherrill beat back a crowded field of competitors to capture the Democratic nod, while Jack Ciattarelli waltzed to victory on the Republican side. Garden State voters now have to decide which of them gets the final nod to take the job in 2026. Dr. Benjamin Dworkin is the founding director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University; he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to handicap what happened Tuesday night and what will happen over the next five months.
Dr. Dworkin told host Larry Mendte how he saw the evening play out mostly as he expected: “We fully expected Jack Ciattarelli to win handily, and he did. What was surprising was how quickly the race was called for Mikie Sherrill the Congresswoman who’s running to be the Democrat nominee for governor. We thought it would be a little but closer; we thought the race would go a little bit further into the night before it could be called but before 8;30 she was declared the winner, and the polls only closed at 8:00, so that was surprising last night. Now, handicapping this race in November, it’s going to be close.”
There are two historical trends that seem to bode well for Ciattarelli, but overall, Dr. Dworkin says his chances may rest in the hands of one huge X factor: “The biggest one is clearly the Donald Trump presidency. How popular is he in October of this year will determine a lot about who’s going to win in November of this year.”
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