Home to “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler and Shakur Stevenson, Newark loves bringing out the heavy hitters on a Saturday night. So, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill enlisted a true political heavyweight to galvanize support for her in a neck-and-neck New Jersey gubernatorial race: on Nov. 1, former President Barack Obama headlined a rally at Essex County College for the candidate. More than 3,000 people showed up, as exit polls show Sherrill and Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli within razor-thin margins to replace term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy
Obama largely attacked President Donald Trump’s record in office and attacks on diversity efforts. He largely regarded Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, as a proxy for the federal administration during his appearance. The Republican candidate and perennial New Jersey gubernatorial runner-up distanced himself from Trump in previous races but seems more open to leaning into the the MAGA brand of GOP politics this time around.
“There’s still a caste system in America,” said Obama. “A pecking order of who makes decisions and who obeys, who gets opportunity and who is obliged to serve. And that story is policed by fear and by force. And it tries to convince people that for their group to win, another’s group’s got to lose. It tries to convince people that if somebody doesn’t look like you or doesn’t think like you or practice religion exactly the way you do, they must be a threat to your way of life and need to be put in their place.
“That’s how Donald Trump thinks about America. That’s what Make America Great Again means. Putting people like him back in charge even when they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.”
For neighboring New Yorkers, the race may dictate the future of a bridge under troubled water — Sherrill spent the past few weeks attacking Trump’s attempts to block the $16 billion Gateway tunnel project beneath the Hudson River for commuters traveling between the Garden and Empire States. Ciattarelli remains largely reticent on the issue but floated charging New Yorkers driving into New Jersey with a “reverse congestion pricing.”
I was called the ‘tunnel-obsessed’ congresswoman when I first got into Congress, because I worked so hard to get that project funded,” said Sherrill. “I was told I’d never get it done, but we got that federal funding, and then went further and got more funding across the state for our transit programs. And Donald Trump, because he’s pissed off that everybody’s blaming him for the government shutdown, has frozen the Gateway Tunnel.”
Newark and the broader Essex County remain a Democratic stronghold with a strong Black voter presence in New Jersey, but South Jersey is more prone to a red wave.
Other speakers included Sen. Cory Booker, Gov. Phil Murphy, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who finished second to Sherrill in the Democratic primary. “I miss Obama,” said Booker, jokingly. “And I miss her husband too.”