Bickering overshadows policy positions in first GOP debate of governor’s race

The candidates traded so many insults and interruptions during the first GOP debate in the governor’s race, it was sometimes hard to hear. (Courtesy of New Jersey Globe/On New Jersey)

The four frontrunners in the Republican race to become New Jersey’s next governor met at Rider University Tuesday for their first debate, and things went from discourse to dogfight in less than 10 minutes.

As the interruptions and insults intensified, candidate Bill Spadea, the brash radio personality, noted that the men were bellowing over one other like they were at an “old Italian dinner.” And at one point, moderator Laura Jones said, “This is no longer productive.”

“Unfortunately, in a debate as to who is going to be the best next governor, the loudest, most disruptive, annoying person does not win,” Spadea said.

In between the bouts of bickering, Spadea, businessman Jack Ciattarelli, Sen. Jon Bramnick, and former Sen. Ed Durr weighed in on everything from development to the “deep state” to dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.

Spadea, Durr, and Ciattarelli fought over who was most MAGA, clearly looking to capitalize on President Trump’s gains in the Garden State between his first presidential run in 2016 and his White House win last year.

“We now know that Donald Trump appeals to Hispanic voters, Black voters, blue-collar workers. Donald Trump showed us the pathway to victory, and the right way to handle this is to run that style campaign,” Spadea said.

Bramnick, the lone anti-Trump Republican on the stage, took a different tack as he addressed an audience that booed him when he mentioned the Jan. 6 insurrection and cheered a subsequent reference to Trump’s pardons of roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters.

“Do you think the people of New Jersey want the debate to be who loves Trump the most or who loves New Jersey the most?” he said.

The candidates also hammered home the personas they hope voters will remember in the ballot box.

Bramnick, an attorney who’s served in the Legislature for 22 years, called himself a “Republican with a heart” who has the power to win Democrats and independents.

Spadea, who hosted a conservative radio talk show until last week, said he’s a Trump loyalist intent on reversing the policies of “woke Democrats who wreck this state and weak Republicans who let it happen.”

Ciattarelli, who lost a tight gubernatorial race against Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021, presented himself as a party unifier capable of raising money and benefitting down-ballot candidates.

Durr, a truck driver and one-time state senator who lost his 2023 bid for reelection, said he’s a political outsider and “regular guy” who will bring an anti-establishment approach to a Statehouse run by career politicians.

“The only way to fix New Jersey is by doing something different. Well, I’m different,” Durr said.

The candidates aligned on many of the GOP’s pet issues, even though they argued over the details.

They agreed New Jersey should not be a sanctuary state for undocumented immigrants, that New Jersey’s taxes are intolerably high, that government bloat should be slashed, and that the Murphy administration’s pandemic restrictions and lockdowns were destructive overreach.

They blasted municipal affordable housing mandates and overdevelopment. They lamented rampant corruption in New Jersey politics at all levels. And none are fans of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which Ciattarelli called “affirmative action on steroids.”

But they disagreed on plenty of things too, including whether voters should decide whether to amend the state constitution to give women the legal right to abortion.

Bramnick and Ciattarelli support abortion rights, except for late-term terminations, with Ciattarelli saying teens under 18 should not be able to end a pregnancy without parental notification. Durr and Spadea oppose abortion, with Spadea calling for more funding for anti-abortion centers.

They also split on gender identity politics and book bans.

Asked if they would roll back LGBTQ+ protections adopted by the Murphy administration, Durr and Spadea said they would bar transgender athletes from teams and facilities that don’t align with their birth gender, prohibit gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and require schools to involve parents when transgender and gender-questioning students come out at school.

Bramnick and Ciattarelli, though, had different answers.

“I’m here to protect any and all groups, particularly marginalized groups, here in New Jersey, plain and simple,” Ciattarelli said.

Bramnick agreed, saying the Republican Party “should always have a heart” and respect everyone.

Bramnick was the only lawmaker to defend the recently enacted Freedom to Read Act, which he co-sponsored. The new law limits book bans in public schools and libraries and shields librarians from lawsuits and criminal charges filed by people who find library materials obscene or otherwise objectionable.

“Next time, you should read the legislation before you take a position on it,” he said, as Durr bashed the bill as promoting pornography.

Spadea said he would repeal it, if elected, and blamed it on teachers union the New Jersey Education Association “pushing their radical agenda.”

Ciattarelli questioned the need for the bill, saying: “There is only one public employee that needs warrants and deserves immunity, and that is our police, not school librarians, with all due respect.”

The debate was hosted by the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, Rider’s Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics, and Save Jersey. Ten Republicans have declared they’ll run in the June primary to succeed Murphy, but only the four frontrunners participated in the debate.

Murphy’s term ends in January 2026. The two-term Democrat is barred from seeking a third term in November.

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