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. 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.
New Jersey Globe: As New Jersey moves on from the 2023 elections, let’s talk about vote-by-mail and early voting. Democrats seem to have gotten a head start that mattered a great deal in key legislative races. How do Republicans catch up and level the playing field?
Alex Wilkes: I think we have a problem that, in theory, we need a generation to fix, but a state and a party that doesn’t have that kind of time.
Does that mean we take our ball and go home? Of course not. We are right on the issues; we have an overall turnout problem, however, in that we didn’t adequately convince enough people to come out.
I think of it in terms of dials. Dan and his friends turned up the abortion dial (which is a culture issue, by the way) to the maximum level with the spending to equal in a Democrat-advantaged state, and it got out enough of their voters in an off-year. We turned up our dials on good issue sets but neither had the funds to match it nor the trust in alternative voting methods to win.
Our problem won’t be solved overnight or with a sweeping, one-size-fits-all strategy. Our voters are out there, but we have to find a way to talk to them leanly and efficiently.
Dan Bryan: I think Republicans have a much bigger issue at hand than not taking advantage of vote-by-mail. In this past election, their messaging focused almost exclusively on “culture war” issues, and their strategy hinged on engaging in transparent bad-faith misinformation campaigns on green energy initiatives. And, for the most part, they fell flat. Compare their campaigns with Democrats, who ran on the economy, affordability, a woman’s right to choose, and gun safety, to name just a few kitchen-table issues that a vast majority of New Jerseyans already care about.
New Jersey Republicans must find a way to cobble together an agenda that is both true to their principles and popular with the electorate. Until then, any advances they make in their ground game (including vote-by-mail) will be dwarfed by having an unpopular agenda and a bad message.
NJ Globe: Down in Washington, which seems much more uncivilized than Trenton, there was an allegation of one congressman kidney punching another, and a senator challenged to a labor leader to a fight (my money was on the Teamsters guy). Can government every get its act together while people behave like clowns?
Dan: It is truly a disgusting scene in Washington these days. We have a Republican majority that has accomplished absolutely nothing of note. Their agenda is so unpopular with the general public that none of it stands any chance of passing. So instead, they spend their time mugging for the cameras and creating moments for C-SPAN when they should be governing.
I wish I had an answer here (outlaw cable news networks?), but it’s difficult for me to see how we realistically put this toothpaste back in the tube.
Alex: Oh, come on, we’re being pretty judgmental coming from a state that played host to a duel in which a sitting Vice President killed a Founding Father.
Dan isn’t wrong that there are too many perverse incentives for people to use their elected offices for theater — both sides are equally guilty here. I suspect we probably don’t have the same solution, though.
The only problem with the Citizens United decision is that it left the old McCain-Feingold shackles on the hard dollar side, while blowing the soft dollar side wide open. This has led to an imbalance (one I would argue actually violates equal protection rights) between the two types of entities.
One of the practical consequences is that politicians need to say and do crazier things to get enough of those hard, small dollar contributions to compete with the soft side. Every text and email you get 5 times a day with more and more sensational claims is proof of that.
Regulating money in politics has only led to an explosion of money in politics. The moment you create a parity between the hard dollar and soft dollar entities, but have more radical disclosure requirements for all is how you stop the bad behavior. Just one girl’s opinion.
NJ Globe: Next year’s U.S. Senate race is already underway, with Andy Kim and Tammy Murphy now in a primary that Bob Menendez still hasn’t removed himself from. What’s your early take on the race?
Alex: Poor Andy Kim is finding out the hard way that the path to an MSNBC contributorship and navigating 21 county lines to becoming the Democratic nominee for Senate are two very different things. The party bosses clearly like his suit hanging in the Smithsonian more than they want it representing them in the halls of power.
Normally I believe that people who complain about the party lines are just incapable of building a sufficient challenger campaign or ones who are unwilling to put in the grind to do the beauty pageant circuit from the start. This situation, however, is completely unprecedented. When you have the vote-rich counties hastily declaring their support for a sitting Governor’s wife within hours of her announcement, that is undoubtedly the result of pressure from the top.
The only things we know about Tammy Murphy are that she treats the women’s soccer players in her care like garbage and apparently, has problems with the “help” pumping breast milk during their breaks. The grassroots here have a legitimate beef. Whether they are organized enough to overcome it in a machine-run state remains to be seen, but I also wouldn’t underestimate the power of the pure populist sentiment to go find Andy over in ballot Siberia.
Dan: I want to disclose this up front: not only have I known and worked for the Murphys for the last eight years, I am now directly working on the First Lady’s campaign for Senate. Though I think highly of Congressman Kim and his service to our country, I joined the First Lady’s campaign because I side with those that firmly believe she is the absolute right person to serve our state in the United States Senate.
Anyone that underestimates the First Lady’s quality as a candidate does so at their own peril. She will run hard, raise the resources necessary, build on the thousands of relationships she has developed throughout this state, and do what needs to be done to win. She is personable, charismatic, empathetic, and hard-nosed. More importantly, she takes on big challenges and accomplishes real results – experience that is far too rare in Washington.
There is a long way to go, and ultimately she will need to prove to the people of New Jersey that she is ready and able to serve them as their United States Senator. But anyone that knows her even a little bit knows that she does not take on challenges without following through. I’m thrilled she entered the race and put herself forward to serve.
NJ Globe: Bob Menendez has started to punch back at people who want his seat, and at people who are backing one of their candidates. What’s the best way for Demcorats — and Republicans — to handle Senator Menendez?
Dan: I think Democrats need to put their heads down, ignore the noise, and move forward. There is no back and forth needed – the people of New Jersey have made up their minds on Senator Menendez, and that’s not changing. Senator Menendez will continue to make headlines, but that shouldn’t affect how Democrats act.
Alex: As Former Governor Brendan Byrne once said, “I want to be buried in Hudson County so that I can remain active in politics.” RELEASE THE SKELETONS, BOB! It’s time for our own political Day of the Dead here. It’s the least Bob can do for us, really.
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