New Jerseyans aren’t always civil, but it’s still possible for a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican to have a rational and pleasant conversation about politics in the state. Dan Bryan is a former senior advisor to Gov. Phil Murphy and is now the owner of his own public affairs firm, and Alex Wilkes is an attorney and former executive director of America Rising PAC who advises Republican candidates in New Jersey and across the nation, including the New Jersey GOP. Dan and Alex are both experienced strategists who are currently in the room where high-level decisions are made. They will get together weekly with New Jersey Globe editor David Wildstein to discuss politics and issues.
Donald Trump will deliver his inaugural address on Monday. What did you want to hear him say?
Alex Wilkes: I wanted to hear a positive vision for our country, but – contrary to what commentators would have you believe – it’s OK to be realistic about the challenges we face. What I would like more than anything is a renewed commitment to breaking down any barrier that has silenced Americans, blocked innovation, or thwarted any of us from individually or collectively realizing our own incredible destiny.
It sounds lofty, but I do believe that before this election there was borderline despair that we might be on the cusp of losing the fundamental values that have defined us since our inception. We had gotten to an absolutely suffocating place where challenging the status quo or asking a question could get you named, shamed, and banned as a peddler of disinformation. A government that does that is no longer one of the people but rather an intolerable enemy of it. Donald Trump’s reelection has paved the way for radical change, and I pray – as I do for all of our presidents – that he uses that power for the good of us all.
Dan Bryan: I’m sorry, but I can’t pretend to have any hope for the incoming administration to be anything other than chaotic, malignant, and embarrassing. The fact that the next generation will grow up with Donald Trump as their President is just so depressing. But I’m rooting for him to prove me wrong.
One of the positives of this dark time is seeing people for exactly who they are. Seeing all of these wannabe tough guys genuflecting before their Dear Leader (Looking your way, Bezos and Zuckerberg [though they certainly don’t have the market cornered]) has been truly revealing.
When this all passes, let’s not forget just how fragile the backbone of our democracy is. Let’s weaken the office of the President, subject them to the same laws as the rest of us, and strengthen the institutions that are supposed to protect the American people from times like this.
I would also love to see some accountability in the national Democratic party for their unfathomable failures over this past decade. Are we really going to keep running it back with the same talent that got us where we are? At least the Jets fire their Head Coach and GM every four years or so. (No one should have to root for the Jets and the national Democratic Party. It’s cruel.)
And the less said about the outgoing administration, the better.
Happy Inauguration Day, everyone!
Last week, we heard Phil Murphy deliver his seventh State of the State address. He unveiled several initiatives, like banning cell phones in classrooms, rewriting farmland assessment laws, expanding pre-K programs, and allowing state workers to be paid while on parental leave. How did he do? Can he get his eighth-year plans through the legislature before he leaves office?
Dan: Governor Murphy didn’t sound like someone ready to leave office quite yet. In his seventh State of the State, he laid out common sense initiatives that are both achievable and wildly popular on both sides of the aisle.
I think he’ll achieve a lot of what he laid out, but as Democratic start to focus more and more on 2025, he may not achieve all of it.
Alex: I think they sound like pretty “safe” goals from a Governor who’s probably trying to avoid dragging down his party already mired in a bruising primary in some woke insanity. A far cry from making New Jersey the California of the East (but, really, thank God).
Benjie Wimberly was elected to the State Senate by just one vote after his first round against Shavonda Sumter ended in a tie. Should this be decided by 88 people, or would you like to see the two face off in a primary?
Alex: Look, I know that if this went to a primary, we’d be talking about low turnout or the expense to taxpayers, but this is the bare minimum government should be expected to do for the people. I think Democrats should take a lesson from this past year – whether it’s the use of “the line” or the Kamala swap – and realize that democracy dressed up as party committee votes tends to degrade the voters’ trust over time.
Dan: First off, congrats to State Senator Wimberly. I don’t know him well, but I’ve been a big fan of his from afar. I’m excited to see what he’ll be able to achieve in higher office.
As an aside, Democrats were lucky to have two fantastic candidates for this office. Assemblywoman Sumter will no doubt rebound from this tough loss and continue to build on her impressive reputation as a smart, tough lawmaker.
I think a decision of this magnitude should have been made by voters. Whether that means a special election or a placeholder, picking a State Senator that can very well be in that office for decades is a decision New Jersey voters should make, not party committee members.
Vote-by-mail ballots go out in fifteen weeks. Where do you see the governor’s race — for both parties — right now?
Dan: It’s getting late early. In both parties, the candidates that people have been loath to label “the favorite” are now widely accepted to be leading the pack. And donors are slowly losing faith in the candidates that have been polling well off of the lead without showing much upward momentum. This isn’t over and anything can still happen, but I’m listening less to narrative arguments and looking harder at real data.
November is shaping up to be as tight a general election as we’ve had in a long time. Both parties need to put their best possible general election candidate on the field, or they risk losing a close election that could haunt them for the next eight years.
Alex: I think the Democrats and Republicans are in more or less the same position right now. Q4 finance reports and the debates will have a winnowing effect on the larger field, largely supplanting the role that the county convention season would have had under the county line system. Here, I think that this process still matters much more overall to the Democrats where a greater number of the county parties have GOTV machines and money to leverage. I will, however, be interested to see for the Republicans (especially those for whom money is tighter) what calculated risks they will take in choosing to compete directly in counties that are thought to be leaning one way or another.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
June 30, 2023 -
August 25, 2020 -
February 12, 2018