Mid-term election issues are good for Republicans, Hugin says

Voter anger over parental rights in public schools, concerns about the environment, questions over affordability and an increase in crime rates might propel Republicans into majorities in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature, GOP State Chairman Bob Hugin predicted today in a call with reporters four weeks before the midterm elections.

Hugin said the top issue is government overreach, blaming Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration and suggesting that Republicans are now the party of the working class.

“Their policies of whether it’s gender, ideology and the age of what they teach, subjects that really shouldn’t be taught at certain ages, etcetera, and the role of the government in education is a very difficult one,” he said.

He also thinks voters will side with Republicans on opposing off-shore wind farms, slamming Democrats for moving too quickly.

“As a fisherman myself, we’ve seen the devastation of scallops and shellfish,” Hugin said.  “We were rushing to judgment that there’s no damage to the mammals, despite the increased stranding and loss of life of whales and porpoises and other sea life and just the whole industrialization of the ocean not knowing.”

And national politics will help Republicans, Hugin insisted.

“President Biden has clearly given us much more of a tailwind, “ he said.

Republicans need to pick up six Senate and seven Assembly seats to take control for the first time in two decades, but their path to majorities is narrow.

Hugin declined to make a district analysis but pointed to the upset defeat of Senate President Steve Sweeney two years ago as evidence of election night surprises.

“Incumbents are always tough to beat, but we feel very good about the opportunities that we see, and we’re working hard to make sure the reality,” Hugin stated.

“We think Republicans share New Jerseyans values.  This is a moderate state.; it’s not a far-left, not a far-right state,” said Hugin.  “We think we’ve got the right issues in front of us, and we’re going to work hard to make sure people see that by early November.”

But he did suggest that Republicans would make gains in the legislature.

“The state and our country are not headed in the right direction, and we’re working hard as a state party to provide our candidates with as much resources as possible, whether it’s messaging, financial resources, human resources, to get the message out that that what the people of New Jersey want to hear about and talk about,” Hugin said.

Citing his inability to coordinate campaign activities with other entities, the former Celgene chairman declined to address speculation that he and his wife, Kathy, were prepared to make seven-figure contributions to super PACs involved in some legislative races.    Hugin had spent more than $36 million of his own money challenging Bob Menendez for U.S. Senate in 2018.

“If we believe that the candidate has a vision for success and has a path to victory and we believe will govern in a way that will move the state forward, we’re not we,” he said.  “This is separate from my role as chair of the party.”

A pro-choice Republican, Hugin said that the focus on abortion by Democratic legislative candidates is a “sign of desperation.”

“Democrats are trying to scare people, and that’s part of the strategy that they have, and I hope it doesn’t work if it does, it’s another example of how bad the Democratic Party has become,” he said.  “They don’t care about doing what’s right for the people.”

The Republican state chairman would neither defend nor bash embattled Assembly candidate Joseph Viso in the 36th district.  Hugin refused to engage in a fight with radio personality Bill Spadea, who criticized him over a vetting failure that produced Viso, who has a history of drug and gun convictions, financial problems, and anger issues; Viso partly blamed an incident where spread fecal matter on the door of a children’s daycare center in 2009 on his anger over the election of Barack Obama.

Hugin also criticized Menendez – “hundreds of thousands of dollars of $100 bills stuffed in his pocket, gold bullion bars … every single elected Democrat that endorsed Menendez historically over the years didn’t know about the things that were going on, I’ve got the bridge that I want to talk to you about” — but would not relitigate his Senate campaign of five years ago, saying people don’t care about 2018.

But he did praise Rep. Andy Kim for quickly entering the race and possibly blocking Democratic bosses from dictating Menendez’s successor.

“He was smart to jump in there so they couldn’t rally around him behind the smoke-filled rooms and push him out and let Mikie Sherrill be the candidate and push Gottheimer to be governor,” said Hugin.  “They had all these plans.  They worked behind closed doors.”