N.J. Republican gubernatorial candidates will debate at 7 PM

The Republican candidates for Governor of New Jersey will meet at 7 PM tonight for their third and final debate before the June 10 primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy in a forum sponsored by the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, Rider University and Save Jersey.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, and NJ 101.5 radio personality Bill Spadea will face off in a substantive 2 ½ hour discussion built around three specific issue topics: Affordability and Taxes; Education; and Crime.   A long-form debate format that focuses on three major categories won’t accommodate sound bites, and there will be little opportunity for candidates to avoid outlining the details of their positions.”

Two other candidates, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and Justin Barbera, a contractor from Burlington County, did not qualify for the debate.

The debates is presented by Uber.  Livestream brought to you by Stand With Crypto.

Sponsors include: RWJ Barnabas, NJ Public Charter Schools, Prudential, Archer & Greiner, Horizon BCBS of NJ and McCarter & English.

You can watch the debate on the New Jersey Globe website, and on YouTube, Facebook Live and X (formerly Twitter).  The debate will also be available with Closed Captioning in English and Spanish.  Links will be posted later.  On Monday, an audio version of the debate will be available on Spotify, Apple, Google and iHeart Radio streaming platforms.  The debates will also air on C-SPAN.

The debates were awarded by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission and are mandated under state law as a condition of accepting matching funds under the state’s gubernatorial public financing program.

In partnership with the County of Essex and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, the debate will be held at the Essex County Donald M. Payne, Sr. School of Technology in Newark.  The inner city school is a state-of-the-art, 320,000-square-foot, $100 million facility built in 2018.  A live audience of over 700 people will be in attendance; attendees will require a ticket.

Emmy Award-winning TV personality Laura Jones of On New Jersey, the host of “New Jersey Politics with Laura Jones,” a weekly public affairs show for On New Jersey and MeTV-WJLP New Jersey/New York, will serve as moderators.  The panelists are David Wildstein and Joey Fox of the New Jersey Globe, and Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.  Some questions will come from Rider students.

Ken Rosato of On New Jersey will host a pre-debate and post-debate show.  

The New Jersey Globe, with On New Jersey and Rider University sponsored the first two debates in February.  The New Jersey Globe has sponsored 28 debates since 2000.