“Having a strong state government, a strong state governor, to really nimbly fight back, I think, is the most effective way,” Sherrill told NBC News before marching in the Asbury Park Pride parade. “I saw that in his last administration. And I would say that has become even more apparent in this administration, as you see the governors really coming up with the battle plan, if you will, to fight back.”
Some Sherrill supporters are backing her in part because they see her as the best equipped to take on Trump, given her background as a Navy helicopter pilot and a federal prosecutor.
“We need somebody tough,” said Linda Perla, a 76-year-old retired school administrator from Mays Landing.
A deciding factor
JoAnn of Cranford, who declined to share her last name, was undecided between Sherrill and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop when she went to see Fulop at the community center in her town on a recent Saturday afternoon. She said her top priority was supporting a candidate who would combat Trump.
JoAnn asked Fulop how he would protect the state from “evil in Washington.” He said he plans to use the state’s surplus to counter cuts to federal programs and keep state Attorney General Matt Platkin in place given his ongoing lawsuits against the Trump administration.
Fulop also said he would push to enshrine certain measures into law to protect targeted communities, noting he supports the Immigrant Trust Act, which would codify limits on state and local law authorities’ cooperation with federal immigration officials.
Fulop won her over, and JoAnn left the meet-and-greet planning to vote for him, saying, “He actually has an action plan.”
Former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, the president of the state’s teachers union, also pointed to the Immigrant Trust Act as a way to push back on Trump, and he told NBC News after having participated in the Asbury Park Pride parade that he also plans to fight Trump by “using the strong attorney general to stand up for folks with New Jersey laws, and using the bully pulpit.”
Eyes on November
These Democrats aren’t expected to stop talking about Trump once the primary is over.
Sherrill previewed a possible case against Ciattarelli by tying him to the president, recently launching a TV ad that warns, “MAGA’s coming for New Jersey with Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli.”
“He said he’s not going to stand up to Trump on anything,” Sherrill said of Ciattarelli during a primary debate last month.
Sherrill and some of the Democratic hopefuls also said that the New Jersey governor’s race will be viewed nationally as a sign of how voters are responding to Trump’s second administration.
“If we do our job and win in November in the way we know we can, and bring people out to vote, that is really, I think, a crack in the facade of MAGA,” Sherrill said at a recent meet-and-greet in Watchung, “and a huge indictment about how people in this country are feeling right now.”
But one of the Democratic hopefuls said that to win in November, the party should at least be open to working with Trump. The president did make gains in the state last year, losing New Jersey by 6 points, a 10-point improvement on his margin in 2020.
Steve Sweeney, the former president of the state Senate, pointed to a recent Emerson College poll that found a slight majority of registered voters in New Jersey (53%) want the next governor to work with Trump, while 47% want the next governor to stand up to the Trump administration. (The survey, conducted May 11-13, reported a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.)
“You just can’t be a partisan and stand up and say, ‘I’m against everything.’” Sweeney said after a recent press conference in Camden. “What if — I’m not expecting anything positive from this president — but what if he came up with something that was good? I’m not going to fight him. I’m going to work with him when there’s something that makes sense.”
But asked if there were any current issues where he could work with Trump, Sweeney simply answered: “No.”