LAWRENCEVILLE — With Americans’ opposition to Donald Trump’s Iran War helping to sink the president’s job approval ratings, Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker and his Republican challenger, former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy, debated the president’s decision to go to war against the Tehran regime at their first and only 2026 campaign debate.
“This is going to go down in history as one of the most colossally stupid things the president has ever done,” Booker, running for his third term, said during Thursday’s debate sponsored by the New Jersey Globe and Rider University. “He invaded Iran, and now he is stuck in another Middle East quagmire costing us all.”
“Finish it,” Murphy countered. “Finish that war in a positive manner.”
The clash over the Iran War, now in its seventh month, sparked the most heated exchange between the two candidates and even went into overtime.
A Pew Research Center survey released Thursday said Americans disapproved of how Trump was handling the war, 65% to 33%. That contributed to Trump’s 68% job-disapproval rating, with only 31% approving.
The war has cost billions of dollars, led to the deaths of 18 U.S. service members and caused gasoline prices to spike. The average price of a gallon of regular gas in New Jersey sat at $4.27, up from $3.03 a year ago, according to AAA.
Murphy said the U.S. was right to go into Iran.
“They are a cancer on human existence,” he said. “Iran has done nothing but export terror, murder, rape, oppression and assassination to the region,” he said. “The Iranian people have suffered enough. Mr. President, get your cowboy hat on and go out there and kick some ass and get this done the right way.”
“This is the kind of yahoo cowboy foreign policy that has mired us in Middle East war after Middle East war with false bravado,” Booker responded. “Leaders say we’re just going to go in there and kick ass. We do not need yahoo policy. We need sound people that use military force as a last resort, who know the power of diplomacy.”
“We are not in a quagmire,” Murphy said. “We have kicked the can down the road enough. The president’s right to do this. If Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, what an unbelievable and unmitigated disaster that would be. They will use it if they obtain one. We are right to do what we’re doing. Stay the course. Get it done right.”
Booker voted to ratify President Barack Obama’s multilateral agreement with Iran, which restricted Tehran’s nuclear development. Iran initially abided by the deal, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. But after Trump withdrew from the agreement during his first term, Iran ratcheted up its nuclear program.
The Iran debate broke out after Murphy, while supporting Israel’s right to exist, criticized some West Bank settlers who have been attacking Palestinians in the territory.
“Some Israeli settlers who are absolutely a deviation from the Israeli citizen who I believe wants peace are attacking and burning homes,” Murphy said. “It’s horrible, it’s not right, no matter who does it.”
Murphy said he wanted Trump to be more critical of settler violence.
“I would like the president to be a little harder on Israel to make sure that that stops because it’s the entire process to get that region stabilized,” Murphy said.
The two men disagreed over Trump administration efforts to penalize so-called sanctuary cities, in which local officials have refused to cooperate with federal efforts to arrest unauthorized immigrants.
Booker said that as mayor of Newark, he worked closely with law enforcement from all levels of government and crime went down.
But now, people are reluctant to come forward and help the police, he said.
“We want to create an environment in our local cities where anybody, regardless of their status, comes forward to report crimes,” Booker said. “We have seen a decline in that many victims of crimes and many people who are witnesses to crimes don’t feel safe going to their local law enforcement. That is toxic and cancerous to public safety.”
Murphy took the opposite view.
“I take a very strong stance against sanctuary states and sanctuary policies and jurisdictions,” Murphy said. “I think they have been a disaster. They incentivize illegal immigration and are a magnet for criminal illegal aliens. I don’t believe they help our state stay safe.”
The debate was civil, with the bald Booker poking fun at Murphy’s full head of hair and praising his opponent’s military service record, while Murphy admired Booker’s passion. The two men agreed that members of Congress should be more civil to one another.
“I would like to see the U.S. Senate be more collegial,” Murphy said. “We need to change the decorum and the dialogue and tone it down and be more professional, collegial, and courteous”
Booker went on to strike a similar tone, but he blamed Trump for the harsh rhetoric.
“Anybody who knows me and knows my politics, you know I believe very firmly you cannot lead the people if you do not love the people, all the people, not just people that agree with you,” Booker said.
Booker is considered a safe bet for re-election by political analysts. Through June 30, he raised $33.5 million for his re-election to Murphy’s $27,512.
At the end of the debate, he sent out a fundraising email looking to increase his campaign bank account with the message: “The GOP has spent the last two years enabling Donald Trump. I’m working to stop the unprecedented corruption, abuses of power, and cruelty coming from this administration.”