Update on New Jersey politics. Governor Murphy's wife – Senate.

0:00 Speaker 1 With us today is Eric Shuffler, and he is our partner in the Ferryhof Stadium in Staten Island and also one of the biggest lobbyists and business people in New Jersey. Eric, give us an update. What the heck is going on in New Jersey. There so many things going on and a lot of people just want an update.

0:21 Speaker 2 John. It is a time of intrigue in New Jersey politics. We haven’t seen kind of drama like this in New Jersey in a long, long time. You know, our one of our sitting senators, Bob Menendez, who’s the chairman of the Center for Relations Committee, has been charged by the US government with several crimes. And his seat is up

0:42 for reelection this year and he is still running and he has not dropped out of the race, and he is being challenged by several people, and not just several anybody, several very prominent people. Andy cam who’s a two term congressman from southern New Jersey outside of some of the Philadelphia suburbs, well respected diplomatic background, is running against the

1:07 governor’s wife, Tammy Murphy. Tammy is very substantive, you know, very strong unpolicy, you know, a proven record on maternal health and environment. And we have this heavyweight clash going on in a New Jersey primary that we have not seen in a very very long time.

1:25 Speaker 1 And you know, I’ve met her, the governor’s wife, Tammy, and she’s a very nice lady. And they have accused her of being a Republican.

1:38 Speaker 2 She was a Republican many many years ago, and they have brought that up. You know, I think the larger challenge here, and we’ll get to there was a big kind of one of the counties had their election this week, you know, but what you have here is a case of the establishment candidate, which is Tammy Murphy against what

1:57 is people view as kind of an upstart congressman. So, you know, you have this battle of kind of the people who are almost in many ways trying to rebel against the power structure and exert themselves on behalf of what they believe a very progressive outsider candidate. And it’s become a very interesting narrative with a lot of the

2:17 political leaders who have known Tammy Murphy for a long time and have seen, you know, the policy weight and policy chops she brings to the table, you know, against a lot of rank and file Democrats who maybe don’t want to kind of some of political leaderships but kind of anointing candidates, and they’re fighting back. So you have

2:36 a you have a real fight going on in the state now, and it’s it’s very interesting because you have two candidates each with good records, who are strong and it’s going to be a battle for the next two months.

2:48 Speaker 1 And when is the primary.

2:50 Speaker 2 It is in the first week in June. But we had our first kind of result this week in Mammoth County, which is the county where the first Lady and the governor lived, and Andy Kim won and that was, you know, a surprising result, and he won by a decent amount, fifty seven percent to thirty nine percent. So that generated

3:09 some momentum, uh and some concern in some quarters. But it is very early New Jersey. The big counties are you know, coming up still, and those big counties enjoy you know, First Lady Tammy Murphy enjoys a lot of support.

3:25 And I think what’s so interesting about this for a New Jersey candidate the voters is you have two really good candidates, very different and that choice of you know, the policy expertise that a Tammy Murphy brings to the table.

3:38 You know, the experience that Andy Kim has in Congress, you know the reputation he’s trying to build as someone who is you know, more progressive, more of an outsider against what people are perceiving to be, you know, more of the you know, the insider candidate. Is really interesting and I think, you know, how Tammy Murphy comes out

3:57 of this will be fun to watch. And I think he’s going to come out really strong having seen what happened to Mama’s county and we all have losses in life. It happens. Partly is what we do with those losses and how we learn from it. And I think you’re going to see a much improved, stronger Tammy Murphy campaign

4:14 coming out of this. But it’s going to be a.

4:16 Speaker 1 Battle, yep. And does Menendez have any kind of shot? Is he in the primary himself?

4:27 Speaker 2 He is still in the primary, John, which is really interesting. He is not going away. He’s not given any indication that he’s going away. He is saying he is innocent of these charges, and he is going to fight these charges.

4:37 When you have a sitting senator in a primary, just the name recognition that comes from his one time service in the state. It’s the come wild card. So you have this race where it’s very hard to predict how it’s going to play out because you have a sitting senator and if he stays in has name recognition that

4:57 people might be drawn to. You have the governor is what you know, first, Lady Tammy Murphy with strong name recognition, strong policy support, and a sitting congressman. You know, I don’t remember any time where you have three people of this political heft in a race at the same time in a primary.

5:15 Speaker 1 It’s gonna be an interesting year. Anything else going on? When is the governor’s race in New Jersey?

5:23 Speaker 2 The governor races twenty twenty five, so well, normally all the political intrigue would be around in open seat. Governor Murphy’s term limited out, so it is an open seat, and open seats in New Jersey are competitive. You know, Republicans, while they’ve struggled to win you know, congressional and Senate seats, they’ve put up good races and won the governor’s race.

5:44 So this is a big race. Democrats have been in control of eight years and everyone is now focused on this immediate Senate race. While the governor’s race a little bit on the back burner, but so you have that going on, John, The Governor Murphy presents his Budge speech at the end of February, so that outlines the state spending,

6:04 you know, and obviously whether that has tax increases or not impacts the Senate rate, how the New Jersey budget plays out. You know, people can take out their opinions on that when they vote in the New Jersey primary in June. So there’s a lot of different things that are connected to each other, a lot of people watching

6:21 and a lot of political you know, vulnerabilities from each of these decisions that are going to be made, and they all affect each other. Fascinating time in New Jersey for voters. A lot for them to process and work through the next months ahead.

6:36 Speaker 1 One last thing both of us were together last Saturday night where Veto facilitated the State of the Borough speech in Staten Island, and that was one of the most interesting and complete presentations I’ve ever seen. Have you ever seen anything better? John?

6:54 Speaker 2 I have seen and written a lot of those presentations myself. That was as good a one as I have seen, I think, you know, Borrow President facel is completely in tune with Staten Island with what they are looking for and what they want. He has a conversational tone about him.

7:08 You know that was really you know, resonated and connect you know, he he hit on highlights of what matters the people on Staten Island, you know, feeling safe, supporting the police, you know, patriotism, pride in their community, quality of life. I thought was really cool. You know, the humility to him, you know, he was able to laugh

7:25 at himself a little bit. The fun he had with his video uh and his and his dog Malibu, and his use of technology, the way he wove in video interviews with other people that were that were through the PowerPoint projection onto it was really Uh, as good as I have seen from a politician. Is excellent.

7:46 Speaker 1 And now back Jenniferiho. By the way, we put it on w ABC radio dot com website if any of our listeners want to see it. It was a phenomenal presentation of Staten Island on to the Ferry Hawks. When is opening day for the Ferry Hooks.

8:04 Speaker 2 We open up at home May third. We start out in Charleston April twenty fifth, but the home opener is May third, That Saturday is May fourth, it is going to be We’re gonna have fireworks. We’re also doing a special faith in Family night that Saturday night with our fireworks.

8:20 It’s going to be a great, great opening weekend. It’s going to be an exciting year. John.

8:25 Speaker 2 We’re gonna have fireworks almost every Saturday night, you know, nights that we’re honoring the police fire. July fourteenth, we’re gonna be out there with tunnels the towers, saluting America’s veteran you know, sixteen dollars tickets with a view that is the best in baseball. Great Nathan’s hot dogs, your favorite, great local food, great local beer. We are super excited.

8:49 You know, attendance has been up the last two years. We’ve done better each year, we’ve won more games. We’re really excited this year. It is a super fun experience, family and friends, your own local ballpark, easy access to Manhattan from the ferry parking nearby. A lot to look forward to for us, John, I’m very excited to get

9:08 out there with you and Margo.

9:10 Speaker 1 Look forward. Eric Shuffler, thank you for an update on New Jersey, an update on Staten Island, and an update on ferry Hawks. I got three for the price of one. I’ll catch up with you again real soon.

9:21 Speaker 2 Talk to you soon. God Blast