2025 N.J. governor’s race: Democrats face off in first debate

The six Democrats vying to be the next governor of New Jersey squared off Sunday night in the first debate of the primary election cycle.
The candidates include two members of Congress, the mayors of the state’s two largest cities, the head of New Jersey’s largest teachers union, and the former state Senate president. They all hope to replace fellow Democrat Phil Murphy, who is in the final year of his second four-year term. New Jersey limits governors to two terms.
The debate was sponsored by the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, the New Jersey Globe and On New Jersey.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer participated in the nearly two-hour debate.
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The candidates discussed public transit, immigration, transgender rights, education, housing, and how to lower the cost of living in the state with the highest property taxes in the nation.
Baraka, more than any other candidate, criticized President Donald Trump’s executive orders and said too many Democrats are shifting too far to the right.
“We don’t have the time to meander in the middle, to be milly-mouthed, or this way or that way,” Baraka said. “We can’t fight extremism with moderation.”
Baraka also criticized what he called a “$35 million piggy bank” aligned with the New Jersey Education Association that is promoting Spiller’s campaign.
After the debate while speaking to reporters, Baraka said his opponents will not stand up to America’s billionaire oligarchs because, unlike them, he is not beholden to them. He said he has not received any campaign money from Elon Musk’s political action committee or investment bankers.
“BlackRock is driving housing prices up,” Baraka said. “You can’t criticize BlackRock when you are taking money from them.”
Immigration
Baraka said Donald Trump’s agenda is based on “white supremacy and racism.” He vowed to protect and defend immigrants.
“The reality is, we have to protect our neighbors. We have to protect the folks in our community. Immigrants in New Jersey represent almost a quarter of the labor force here in the state. They bring billions of dollars in state and local taxes. They increase the revenue and economy where we live,” Baraka said. “Immigrants in our community in Newark are store owners, right? They’re business owners, they’re community people. They’re advocates. They’re part of nonprofit organizations.”

Sherrill said treating immigrants fairly is an issue of basic humanity. She said the country desperately needs comprehensive immigration reform, a pathway to citizenship, and better border security.
Gottheimer, now in his fifth term in Congress, defended his vote for the Laken Riley Act, which requires immigration officials to detain undocumented immigrants charged with murder, theft, burglary, and other crimes. He was the only New Jersey Democrat to vote for the bill.
“If you’re a murderer, criminal, rapist, and you’re breaking into people’s homes with a gun in the middle of the night when the kids are sleeping, and you’re undocumented, you shouldn’t be here,” Gottheimer said, adding that immigration raids under Trump have gone too far. He said as governor he would work to stop such raids.
Sweeney agreed with Gottheimer, saying undocumented lawbreakers should not be in the United States. He pointed to high deportation rates under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
“They deported more people than Donald Trump ever did, but they did it with humanity and compassion, and they did it the right way,” Sweeney said.
Baraka, who has been the mayor of Newark for a decade, said people need to stop framing the issue as “immigrants as criminals.”
“We know that’s a lie. There is no crime wave of immigrants in New Jersey,” Baraka said, adding that Newark would have almost no crime if the city eliminated all the offenses except those committed by immigrants.
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Fulop, a former investment banker and Marine, and son of Holocaust survivors who immigrated to the U.S., said he unapologetically supports the Immigrant Trust Act, which would allow New Jerseyans to seek protection and support from state and local agencies without fear of deportation. He said Jersey City has the only nationally accredited immigration office located in a municipal building. The city has also been at the forefront of supporting refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, he said.
Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided an apartment building owned by Fulop’s father, who has lived in Newark for 50 years and is a U.S. citizen.
“Twenty ICE agents showed up searching every single apartment. Who lives in that building? A public school teacher, a veteran, an immigration services business, and an electrical contractor with the state of New Jersey,” Fulop said. “They searched, and they arrested nobody, but the next day, one of the tenants asked to move. Now I ask you, I’m running for governor. I’m up here as a candidate at the forefront, and it can happen to my family, which means it can happen to your family as well. And it’s a conversation around due process.”
A moderator asked candidates to raise their hands if they would protect immigrants. Baraka, Fulop, Sweeney and Spiller raised their hands. Sherrill and Gottheimer did not.
Government transparency
Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City since 2013, emphasized his experience leading the state’s second-largest city. He raised the issue of unfunded state mandates and criticized the opaque and rushed annual state budget process.
“They tell us do this… you should do that, and they don’t help us with any resources for that. I think that needs to be the starting point, visiting how Trenton interacts,” Fulop said.
He said Jersey City introduces its budget in January or February, allowing the public to scrutinize it for several months.
“Sunlight cleanses,” Fulop said. “What happens in Trenton is, it (the budget) gets introduced two days before it’s passed, and that is at the core of the problem of getting (budget) reductions.”
Fulop was the only candidate to raise concerns about government transparency before a panelist asked a question on the topic.

“As of today, The Star-Ledger and New Jersey Journal have printed their last editions. New Jersey’s radio and TV landscape has also seen drastic reductions in the number of journalists who cover the state, yet a new public records law makes it tougher for citizens to request the public information that belongs to them, and another new law has made campaign finance information less transparent,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics. “The view in Trenton is that this is not a problem people care about. Are they right or wrong?”
Fulop said Gov. Phil Murphy took a good step by signing a bill sponsored by former Sen. Loretta Weinberg that dedicates funding to support the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a nonprofit that seeks to provide grants and support to local journalism ventures.
“I think it’s important to support those local outfits in a time where you have OPRA being rolled back and campaign finance. I think absolutely the public cares about it. They came out in huge numbers, but the reason that they were able to achieve that in Trenton (restricting public records access) is that there’s no accountability. The people there don’t feel like they are accountable to the public. They feel like they’re accountable to a political structure.”
Fulop called Sen. Andy Kim’s lawsuit to change the New Jersey ballot design a huge step in creating accountability. He said anyone who becomes governor should take the immediate step of rolling back the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to what it was before the Legislature and Murphy weakened it.
Baraka and Fulop were vocal opponents of the move to weaken OPRA last year. Baraka said lawmakers need to determine why OPRA was changed. He said a few people were behind the effort to weaken government transparency.
“The majority of people in New Jersey, whether they know about this or not, it hurts them. It hurts them badly. We need to be, as leaders, making sure that there is transparency,” Baraka said. “We reverse that when I become governor. I think we begin to create more campaign finance reform and take all of this big money out of these campaigns. That has to happen. Not just private money, but all money.”
Sherrill, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, attorney and federal prosecutor, said that when she worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the District of New Jersey was known for having the most public corruption.
“Less transparency in the state, especially when we’ve just had a senator found guilty of corruption, is not the way to go,” Sherrill said. “It doesn’t make people feel like their government is responsive to them. It makes them feel as if there are backroom deals. We have to do better.”
Spiller said that any reduction in press freedom or government transparency is problematic. He said people still rely on the press to hold those in power accountable.
“People want to know what’s happening at the school board, how they’re spending their dollars, and what they’re talking about,” he said. “They want to be part of the conversation.”
“I think folks feel more and more disconnected because they see who is there purportedly to represent them, but doesn’t,” Spiller said. “It’s all part of a building frustration that folks have.”
NJ Transit takes home an F
All six candidates were unanimous in giving NJ Transit service an F grade.
“We really need to fix this, because we are now on our third summer of hell, and we can’t wait for the funding from the Gateway Tunnel Project,” Sherrill said, adding that Amtrak needs to be held accountable.
“They need to fix the catenary wires. I’ve driven $300 million in for that fix alone. We’ve driven billions in for Northeast rail. I want an explanation of exactly where that’s gone,” Sherrill said. “We need to do more here in New Jersey, innovative things like transit-oriented development, which feeds back into our transit system. But right now, it’s simply unacceptable.”

Gottheimer said the state is paying Amtrak $200 million a year to use its rail.
“And they stick it to our families all the time. They hold our trains up while they let their trains go by. It’s ridiculous,” Gottheimer said. “We need to stand up to them, just like we’ve got to stand up to New York and their outrageous congestion tax. New York sticks it to us every day. The fact that they’re taxing our families nine bucks a day now to drive into New York on top of what you pay to go over the GW Bridge or through the Holland Tunnel is ridiculous. Those are nurses and electricians and firefighters and teachers. They’re getting killed, and all we’re getting is more traffic and pollution by the GW Bridge already because of this congestion tax.”
Gottheimer praised Murphy for suing New York over the congestion tax and said New Jersey will prevail in court. “We all have to fight them,” Gottheimer said.
Fulop said the state needs to come up with concrete steps to change NJ Transit. He also said the next governor needs to cancel the New Jersey Turnpike widening project, which he called an $11 billion boondoggle. He said the money should be reallocated to fund mass transit to improve service and make it safer. He also said privatizing buses was a big mistake.
“You need to bring that back in-house in order to make sure that they’re running as efficiently as they should be,” Fulop said.
Sweeney said NJ Transit’s performance is unacceptable and is an embarrassment. He said transit around the world runs efficiently. “My son was in Japan recently, and he told me they apologize when they’re 30 seconds late. I mean, they take such pride in their transit,” he said.
Sweeney said he has high hopes for the new head of NJ Transit. “By the way, I would love to have some transit in South Jersey. It would be very, very nice to see, because it doesn’t exist.”
New Jersey Courts
Fulop and Baraka broke with the other candidates on whether they would maintain a partisan balance on the New Jersey Supreme Court by nominating a Republican to replace Justice Anne Patterson when she retires in 2029. The seven-member high court has traditionally had at most four members who belong to a single party, though governors like Chris Christie tried to make the court more partisan.
“I think we’ve learned the lesson here that Democrats need to fight and have the tenacity to show a backbone. The Republicans don’t play by those rules, and we repeatedly go back and say, we’ll play nice, because it’s the historical way that it’s been. And you’ve seen what’s happened in the federal government,” Fulop said. “It’s no secret that New Jersey is viewed as a purple state. If it becomes red, do you think that the Republicans are going to say, well, this is the way it’s been historically? The state judiciary should reflect the electorate and the people that live here, and there are a million more Democrats here.”
Sweeney countered that packing the court would set a precedent for Republicans to do the same if they win control of the governorship and the state Senate.
“As Democrats, we always think we’re winning everything all the time. We don’t,” Sweeney said. “We had Chris Christie for eight years, so if we’re going to pack the courts, they have every right to. We have the best system in the country, and we need to protect it.”
Most candidates supported a proposal to allow the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to nominate appellate judges. Under the current system, the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court has the sole authority to assign Superior Court judges to the Appellate Division. Some critics see the proposal as politicizing the courts and giving more control to politicians.
Sherrill and Sweeney both voiced their support for senatorial courtesy, the unwritten rule that allows senators to block the governor’s nominees for positions, including judgeships and Cabinet positions if the nominee is from the senator’s county or district.
Spiller pushed back, citing logjams in appointing judges.
“One of the reasons we have the shortage that we do is because there are so many holes with senatorial courtesy where we can’t fill positions,” Spiller said.

Transgender sports participation
Every candidate supported allowing trans children to participate in sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Without naming anyone specifically, Baraka questioned whether some of those on stage were sincere in their support for transgender people. He encouraged voters to examine candidates’ past voting records.
“When we have our transgender rally, I’m going to invite them all to be there and support transgender people in public, on Main Street, not just at the Globe debate,” Baraka said.
Some candidates urged Democrats to avoid letting Republicans set the terms of debate on transgender issues.
“It’s targeting vulnerable people, and quite frankly, it’s bullshit,” Sherrill said. “We have to do better at protecting vulnerable people, but we can’t fall into these traps because we’re losing on this issue.”
The rent is too damn high
Gottheimer, who has labeled himself the “lower taxes, lower costs” candidate, touted his tax plan, claiming that if elected, he would cut property taxes by 15%, give families and seniors tax credits, and help renters by giving them an annual $500 rebate.
Under his proposal, these cuts and rebates would be paid for by finding cost savings, clawing back more money from the federal government, and going after tax cheats.
“I just finished my 21-county tour of diners across Jersey, and I’ll tell you, booth after booth, I’m hearing the same thing. Jersey is just too damn expensive,” Gottheimer said. “Families are saying to me, I want to stay here. I want my kids to be able to grow up here and be able to raise their families here, but we just can’t afford it.”

Sweeney, an ironworker union leader and close friend of political power broker George Norcross, agreed that New Jersey needs to be more affordable. He said he got into politics to look out “for the little guy.” He cited accomplishments during his tenure as Senate president that included a minimum wage increase, paid family leave and earned sick leave.
But Sweeney said expecting more federal money from the new administration is a pipe dream. “We’ve got to fix our own problem because Washington is not going to help us,” he said.
“We did paid family leave and I’m very proud of that. And we did the minimum wage. Guess what? It’s not easy to do,” Sweeney said. “Nothing is easy in the state. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and a strong fight.”
Spiller said daycare and health care need to be much more affordable for New Jersey residents.
Baraka said the state can’t use voodoo economics to fix problems like Trump is doing.
“Ultimately we need to lower costs. And one of the highest costs is health care, right?” Baraka said. “We gave millionaires a tax break from 2010 to 2022 to the tune of $15 billion… We’ve taken from the poor, and we made the middle class foot the bill. We need to rein in expenses by lowering costs, making the wealthy pay their fair share here, and be more efficient by making sure we cap pricing on hospitals, that we cap spending on insurance.”
Fulop said people need to be honest about the fact that there’s a revenue conversation that needs to happen in Trenton as well.
“You need to revisit tax brackets. You need to revisit what a millionaire’s tax is versus the people who make $2 million and $5 million. A millionaire from 20 years ago is not the same as a millionaire today. You need to reconsider the tax rollbacks that Christie put in place,” Fulop said. “You need to do that right out of the gate when you have political capital because the revenue conversation is crucial.”
State aid to public schools
Asked if the state should be required to cap the amount of state aid a school district can lose from year to year at either 2% of last year’s budget or the total amount of state aid the district receives, most candidates voiced support for a cap on cuts.
Spiller, a former science teacher and coach who leads the statewide teachers union and is the former mayor of Montclair, said drastic cuts in aid are wrong.
“You can’t have a space where you reduce the aid by such an amount that all of a sudden the services that so many are relying on are pulled out,” Spiller said. “That is not fair. That is not how anyone would budget or figure things out.”
Fulop said that abruptly taking away a large amount of state aid forces school districts to make unfair choices that impact parents.
Baraka said there are too many school districts and superintendents in the state, though.
“We have more districts than we actually have mayors. We need to be talking about unified school districts,” Baraka said.
Sweeney said school districts were given 15 years to shrink the size of their school systems in districts where the student population was declining, and they didn’t do it.
“Now they’re complaining about it,” Sweeney said. “I understand, but what’s fair is the money following the child.”
Voter ballot initiatives
In New Jersey, residents can’t put questions on the ballot at the state level, only at the local level.
Sweeney was the only candidate who said he opposed citizens being able to bring forward statewide ballot measures. He said allowing residents to do so would mean more money in politics. He also said the ability would dilute the role of legislators.
“I support elections that elect the governor and the legislature, and if you’re unhappy with what they do, you should not vote for them again,” he said.

Baraka said he would support the right of citizens to put forth initiatives. He said most people in New Jersey are invisible to those in power.
Sherrill said she would love to see a constitutional amendment for abortion on the ballot.
Spiller said the political system in the state needs to change so that voters are the ones picking candidates instead of party bosses selecting them.
“Let’s allow the voters to be the ones to decide who’s going to represent us. Let’s allow the voters to be the ones who say that a candidate represents my interests, and they’re fighting for me right now,” Spiller said. “I think so many people are turned off by a system where you don’t even get a vote.”
Fulop cited the rollbacks of government records access and campaign finance reform as examples of whom Trenton leaders represent.
“Just last year, open public records were rolled back, despite the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of advocates came out saying that you shouldn’t do that,” Fulop said. “The year before that, campaign finance rules were rolled back, despite the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of people came out saying, please don’t do that.”
Fulop said there is no accountability in Trenton. “These political bosses control it and have monetized the system for themselves,” he said. “Of course giving the opportunity to regular people to put initiatives and ballot referendums out there is a positive. It encourages more democracy.”
Governor averages a B-
Murphy received high marks from the candidates for fully funding the state’s pension system as governor. He received low marks for NJ Transit’s woes.
Baraka gave Murphy the highest grade, a B+. Spiller gave him a “C+, maybe a B.” Fulop gave Murphy the worst grade, a C-.
“If you think about the things that he touts—cannabis, minimum wage, paid sick leave—each of those things, New Jersey was not bold. We were late to the party,” Fulop said. “By the time we got to a $15 minimum wage, 10 other states were already there. It needs to be higher in New Jersey.”
Editor’s note: Republican candidates for governor will participate in their first primary debate.

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Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade. Prior to becoming a journalist she worked for Centurion, a Princeton-based nonprofit that works to free the innocent from prison. A graduate of Smith College, she earned her master's of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and her master's certificate in entrepreneurial journalism from The Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY.