NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Along the industrial roads in New Jersey’s biggest city, Newark mayor Rasbaraka appeared last week with immigration rights activists to protest a contract with a Trump administration’s private company. First new immigrants The second term of the president’s detention center.
Voters said, “Don’t believe people should be rounded up just because they are trying to become American citizens,” he said.
Baraka, as he was pushed back to construction of a 1,000-bed detention facility. One of six Democrats running for governor This year in New Jersey, he has put a positive approach on issues his party has been struggling with recently. Other candidates approach President Donald Trump and partially embraced his gathering approach to immigration, or spent most of their time talking about the economy and high cost of living.
That range will make them like a test ground for Democrats in the June primary of the New Jersey Governor’s I’m struggling to find their footing About the issues that have been bothering them for a long time. If tart policy wins in liberal New Jersey, Democrats running elsewhere may need to rethink the best ways to appeal to their most loyal supporters.
The fight over the detention center marks the second time since Trump’s inauguration this year, when Newark emerged under immigration headlines. First came after ice arrest In January, the mayor is working to win the spotlight and move forward on his path.
Baraka rejects the notion that most voters support cracking down on immigrants without documents. He openly calls for defending his constitutional right to searches and seizures without legitimate procedures and viable pathways to citizenship.
“When you ask people, are they against criminals? They’re going to say yes,” he told reporters after the demonstration. “What if you’re against murderers, rapists, and everything else? Yes. The reality is that people want to be safe with their own people and their papers.”
In his mind, it does not lead to mass detention and deportation of those seeking a better life. Whether his calculus will resonate with the leading Democratic voters in the June election is a question that many Democrats want to answer.
“Boldness is important”
The six candidates’ democratic field features two sitting members of the council, mayors of the state’s two biggest cities, head of the state’s largest teachers’ union, and former top legislators who promote their background as blue-collar ironworkers.
Not all of them are talking a lot about immigration, and working with voters in Blue State primary doesn’t automatically translate as a blueprint for Democrats elsewhere.
But immigration is the best for voters in 2024 and is at the heart of the president’s agenda, according to Micah Rasmussen, director of the New Jersey Institute of Political Science at Ryder University, Democrats hope to benefit politically.
“There’s a penalty for something that seems lost because Democrats have yet to find a way, and they don’t know what to say about something,” he said. “Voters don’t reward their hesitation. They want boldness.”
New Jersey Fields
Not all Democrats in the contest are shaking to the left of the president, replacing Phil Murphy, a limited-time Democrat as governor. Former Senate Senate President Steve Sweeney has denounced the sanctuary state policies supported by Baraka and others, calling on the party to “go back to listening to ordinary people.”
Other candidates are particularly focused on the empty property taxes in New Jersey, particularly the economy. (The average property tax bill recently surpassed $10,000 a year.) Rep. Josh Gottimer says he’s running to become “low tax” governor. Regarding immigration, Gottheimer Supported border contracts that Republicans rejected Last year and Vote for the Laken Riley Act It calls for the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Flop points to the progressive victory he led by his city. For example, they raise the minimum wage to $15 for the state, keeping them away from local political party bosses. Regarding immigration, Flop called the Laken Riley Act “dangerous” and said it undermines the powers of the governor and the state attorney general.
Boasted by his influential union, New Jersey Education Association president Sean Spiller says his priority is to improve the economy of working-class people.
Sen. Mikie Sherrill, a former prosecutor and naval pilot, highlights her biographies. She highlights both stronger border security to stop the flow of fentanyl, but she sought a path to citizenship for migrants “working hard, paying taxes.”
A broader campaign
The newest part of this governor’s race is the disbandment of the so-called county line. This is a New Jersey-specific voting design that allows local party leaders to give prime positioning to priority candidates. Although the preferential placement was seen as an overpowering influence on party bosses, the majority of cases filed by Senator Andy Kim last year while he ran for his seat are largely grateful.
Republicans are also trapped in primary elections, which are largely contested about those who like the president’s agenda the most. One exception is State Sen. John Blumnick. He says that much of the president’s policies will not help the GOP win the general election in a state with nearly a million Democrats than the Republicans.
Also competing is Jack Ciatalelli, a former Congressman who defeated Murphy in 2021.
There is a sense among Republicans that Democrats may be vulnerable to immigration. Even Trump skeptics have rejected sanctuary policies, such as the so-called immigration trust policy, which bans local police from working with federal officials to enforce immigration laws.
The GOP has not won a single US Senate race in New Jersey in the last 50 years, but has been better in the governor’s campaign. Former Governors Chris Christie, Christine Todd Whitman and Tom Keene Sr. have each won two terms of party office over the past decades.
