Primary day in New Jersey governor’s race could offer hints on how voters feel about Trump

TRENTON, N..J. (AP) — New Jersey voters on Tuesday will settle the Democratic and Republican primaries for governor in a contest that could send signals about how the public is responding to President Donald Trump’s agenda and how Democratic voters think their leaders should push back.

New Jersey is one of just two states with a race for governor this year — the other is Virginia — and the fact two-term Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is term-limited has created fresh drama for the open seat.

There’s a six-way race on the Democratic side that features several seasoned political figures. Trump’s endorsement of former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli may have given him a boost on the Republican side, where he faces four primary challengers.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday, but it’s not the only day of voting. Early in-person voting was held from June 3-8. Mail-in ballots were sent to voters beginning in April.

The contest hinges in part on New Jersey issues, including high property taxes and the soaring cost of living, but national politics are sure to figure in. Trump, who has long had a strong presence in New Jersey, waded into the race with his endorsement, attacking Democratic control of state government. Democrats are looking for a winning message and leadership after the sting of bitter losses in 2024.

“Because these are the first major elections since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, there’s a tremendous amount at stake simply through public perception,” said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship.

For Democrats? “They’ll just get further in a hole if they don’t hold this seat,” he said.

For Republicans? They could win because New Jersey tends to be purple during gubernatorial years, Dworkin said, but that would be viewed as a tremendous victory for Trump.

The Democrats running are Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark and Steven Fulop of Jersey City; U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill; teachers union President Sean Spiller and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney. The Democratic campaign has been hard fought and pricey, with tens of millions spent in one of the country’s most expensive media markets.

On the Republican side, most of the candidates declared their support for the president’s agenda, pressing for a state-level version of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. They’ve also said they would end so-called sanctuary policies and, in a New Jersey-specific pitch, called for the end of the state’s 2020 law banning single-use plastic bags.

Ciattarelli has said he would sign an order on his first day in office ending New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which bars local police from cooperating with federal officials on civil immigration matters. He has also said he would direct whomever he names attorney general to end lawsuits against the Trump administration, including a case aimed at stopping the president’s order ending birthright citizenship for people whose parents were in the country illegally.

Murphy, who became the first Democrat to be reelected in more than four decades in 2021, is barred from running again by term limits and hasn’t endorsed a successor in the primary.

Both parties will look to build their general election campaigns on widespread voter frustration. For Democrats, that means focusing on the parts of Trump’s aggressive second-term agenda that are unpopular. Republicans, meanwhile, are casting blame for economic hardships on Democrats who’ve run state government for the last eight years.

New Jersey has been reliably Democratic in Senate and presidential contests for decades. But the odd-year races for governor have tended to swing back and forth, and each of the last three GOP governors has won a second term.

Democrats have the largest share of registered voters in the state, followed closely by independent voters and then Republicans, who have roughly 800,000 fewer registrations than the Democratic Party. But the GOP has made gains in recent years, shaving the Democrats’ lead of more than 1 million more registrations to the current level.