Six Democratic candidates for governor met Sunday night for the first primary debate of the 2025 election cycle.
The almost two-hour debate was largely free of fireworks—much of the debate didn’t surround the end goals of the candidates, but rather the most effective routes to those results. The candidates repeatedly returned to lowering the cost of living in the state, but the group also debated immigration, housing, transit, and education.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Senate President Steve Sweeney, and teachers union leader Sean Spiller took the stage Sunday.
Baraka attacked President Donald Trump, calling the Republican’s deportation efforts white supremacy, and took more precise jabs at some of his Democratic opponents. The progressive mayor criticized the “$35-million piggy bank” that is aligned with the New Jersey Education Association and supporting Spiller’s campaign. Baraka also alluded to the voting records of his opponents, though didn’t call out any votes specifically.
“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, Fulop, and Spiller (a former mayor of Montclair) focused on the value of municipal experience in executive roles.
Gottheimer touted his proposed tax plan and said his experience in Congress leading the Problem Solvers Caucus will enable him to find practical solutions to difficult issues in the state. The congressman, a moderate who flaunts Jersey values and has labeled himself the “lower taxes, lower costs” candidate, also had to defend attacks on his vote for the Laken Riley Act.
The act, which will require immigration officials to detain undocumented immigrants charged with murder, theft, burglary, and other crimes, was signed into law last week. Gottheimer was the only New Jersey Democrat to vote for the bill, which opponents said could be ripe for abuse.
“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,” the congressman said.
But Gottheimer also said immigration raids under Trump have gone too far and he would use the “full force” of the state to stop such raids.
Sweeney, an ironworkers union leader, said he got into politics for the “little guy” and celebrated laws passed during his time in Trenton, like a minimum wage increase and paid family and sick leave.
On a question about ballot referendums, Sweeney diverged from the other candidates when he said he didn’t believe ballot questions were the best way to implement change in the state. The former legislator said issue referendums would put more money into politics and dilute the role of lawmakers.
“I support elections that elect the governor and the legislature,” Sweeney said. “And if you’re unhappy with what they do, you should not vote for them again.”
Each of the candidates expressed support for transgender New Jerseyans, including athletes. Sherrill said questions over transgender athletes in sports distract from more important issues like lowering costs for residents—the congresswoman called anti-trans efforts “bullshit.”
“We have to do better at protecting vulnerable people,” she said. “But we can’t fall into these traps because we’re losing and we need to win on this issue.”
Fulop said the governor and legislators need to reassess how they interact with municipalities. The mayor said “unfunded mandates” put municipalities in a hard place when there are new rules to follow but little financial support to see them through.
“They tell us to do this. ‘This is well-intentioned, you should do that,’” Fulop said. “And they don’t help us with any resources for that.”
Fulop also said he wants to end the New Jersey Turnpike’s widening project and instead divert that money to the ailing NJ Transit system.
Spiller, the president of the NJEA, said the school funding system needs to be adjusted so school districts do not see sudden drops in the amount of funding they receive from the state.
“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 from under their feet,” Spiller said. “That is not fair.”
Asked to grade the job performance of the state’s two-term Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, the candidates differed: Sweeney gave Murphy a C, Spiller said he was a C+ governor, Fulop was at a B-, Gottheimer and Sherrill awarded him a B, and Baraka rated him best at B+.
On New Jersey’s Laura Jones moderated the debate. David Wildstein and Joey Fox of the New Jersey Globe and Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute at Rider University, served as panelists. Rider University hosted the debate.
The Republican candidates will debate Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
You can watch the Democratic debate here.