In an acrimonious debate that saw both candidates take off the gloves within moments of their introductions, Gov. Phil Murphy and his Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli fought over everything from the state’s response to the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida to the death toll in its nursing homes, taxes, and abortion Tuesday night.
The hour-long debate was marked by prepared zingers, charges of failures by both, and at times what appeared to be genuine anger.
It was tense out of the gate, with Ciattarelli scolding Murphy over how he handled Ida, his handling of the crisis in New Jersey’s nursing homes as COVID-19 killed thousands, and the governor hitting the former assemblyman on his record on abortion rights and appearance at a rally for former President Donald Trump.
- MORE COVERAGE: 5 telling moments between Murphy and Ciattarelli from Tuesday’s N.J. gubernatorial debate
Ciattarelli accused the governor of waiting too long to declare a state of emergency as Ida — which killed 30 people in New Jersey — swept through the state.
“If ever we needed a ‘get the hell off the beach’ moment, this was it,” Ciattarelli declared to the delight of supporters in the audience, invoking a famous line from former Gov. Chris Christie.
He said Murphy did not announce a state of emergency until around 10 p.m. But by that time, a tornado had already destroyed a suburban neighborhood and many people in the state were hopelessly trapped in their cars or low-lying homes. (Murphy’s office subsequently said the state of emergency declaration went into effect at 9 p.m. But his office didn’t announce it to the public until an hour later.)
Murphy, who regularly issued similar declarations hours ahead of any snowflakes touching the ground amid dire winter storm forecasts, originally defended the timing of his state of emergency by saying his administration will do a “postmortem” on Ida.
The governor pushed back Tuesday night, warning the audience more Idas will hit New Jersey and the rest of the country if voters don’t back somebody like him who has plans to tackle climate change.
Murphy, meanwhile, slammed Ciattarelli for opposing mask mandates and saying it should be a parent’s choice whether kids wear masks in schools.
“Saying it’s your call...on ‘no masking’ is akin to supporting drunk driving,” Murphy shot at Ciattarelli. “We can’t beat it that way.”
The GOP candidate also voiced his continued opposition to vaccine mandates, although he said he encouraged people to get vaccinated and said he has been vaccinated as well.
“Do I believe the government has the right to force you to take a medicine? No I don’t,” he said.
The debate, held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, was the first of two gubernatorial debates between Murphy and Ciattarelli. They will meet again at 8 p.m. on Oct. 12 at Rowan University in Glassboro.
Lt. Gov. Shelia Oliver, a Democrat, and Republican Diane Allen will debate 7 p.m. Oct. 5 at Rider University in Lawrenceville for their only meeting before the Nov. 2 election.
A major focus of the debate was over the state’s high death toll in its nursing homes during the early months of the pandemic. Ciattarelli repeatedly hammered Murphy for New Jersey leading the nation in deaths in nursing homes.
“He asked the nursing home to do the impossible,” Ciattarelli said.
Of the more than at least 27,300 people who have died from the pandemic since March 2020, at least 8,532 of them were among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Murphy has been criticized about how he initially handled elderly people, including by Ciattarelli, who has said the governor forced sick patients out of hospitals and returned them to nursing homes. They say that led to more deaths and that lives could have been saved.
Murphy’s administration did call for residents to return to their nursing homes, citing hospitals reaching capacity at the height of the state’s crisis. But the order called for those people to be isolated from the main nursing home populations. Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli in a March 2020 conference call with long-term care providers told them they would be required to assign separate staff and separate them from other residents — or to let the state know right away if that was not possible.
“We were crystal clear,” Murphy said. “They needed to be separated.”
A surprisingly feisty moment of the debate was about endorsements from police officers — or, the lack thereof.
Murphy was questioned by the moderators why he didn’t get backing from the state’s second-largest police union this race despite getting their support when he ran four years ago.
“You claim to be Mr. Law and Order. You have no endorsements from law enforcement,” the governor said.
Sex and kids were also an issue for the debate.
Ciattarelli made headlines in July after video surfaced of him telling voters at a campaign stop he’s against teaching “gender ID and sexual orientation to kindergartners” that he’d “roll back” new LGBTQ curriculum requirements in the state’s schools because they go “too far.”
Asked about that, he replied, “I believe there are certain subject matters for our younger students that are best left to the kitchen table,” Ciattarelli said of LGBTQ curriculum in schools.
“Lot going on at the kitchen table,” the governor observed.
Murphy, in his own campaign ads, has criticized Ciattarelli for attending a so-called “Stop the Steal” rally in support of former President Donald Trump in November 2020.
Ciattarelli, who congratulated President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on their election victory in a Jan. 20 social media post, has called the 30-second TV spot a “misleading negative” ad through a campaign spokeswoman and said he didn’t know it was a “Stop the Steal” rally.
Murphy, though, pressed the issue at the debate.
“Come on, man. Your picture and name were on the invitation. There is video. There were confederate flags,” he said, calling it “the exact same cocktail” as the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, noting that “people died.”
“You mean like the people in the nursing homes and Tropical Storm Ida,” Ciattarelli shot back.
He also continued to hammer the governor on taxes, repeating more than once the line from one of his campaign ads where he attacks Murphy with an old clip of the Democrat suggesting that if taxes are your only issue “New Jersey may not be the state for you.”
Murphy was asked about his treatment of women, specifically about Katie Brennan, a former state official who publicly accused a former top aide of the governor of raping her during Murphy’s 2017 campaign.
Brennan became the center of the New Jersey political world in late 2018 when she publicly accused Albert J. Alvarez, the Latino and Muslim outreach director of Murphy’s first campaign, of raping her when she was a volunteer for the campaign.
Brennan testified in a December 2018 hearing that she told multiple members of Murphy’s inner circle about her allegations but her “pleas went unanswered.” She said Alvarez was given a job in the administration after she first alerted Murphy’s team about the accusations.
Alvarez, who was hired to become chief of staff of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority after the campaign, has repeatedly denied the allegation and was not charged after two law-enforcement investigations.
Murphy said during Tuesday’s debate that he publicly and privately apologized to Brennan, and that her experience helped to make him and his administration better by confronting mistakes that were made head-on.
But Ciattarelli wasn’t having any of it.
“This is the most anti-women governor we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve seen this time and time again.”
Even before the start of the debate, the atmosphere was charged outside, with competing pro-Murphy and pro-Ciattarelli forces gathered on the street. Among them were union groups and anti-vaccine demonstrators.
Demonstrators in support of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and his Republican challenger, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, were in close proximity outside the New Jersey Performing Arts Center before the start of the 2021 Gubernatorial Debate. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
In the latest poll, released last week by Monmouth University, Murphy has been leading the race with a 13-percentage-point lead, 51% to Ciattarelli’s 38%, in the November contest. No Democrat has been re-elected governor since Brendan Byrne in 1977, though voters went for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in consecutive elections in 2001 and 2005.
Voters have given Murphy good overall grades on his handling of the COVID crisis, even though a large majority — 82% — said the strict measures Murphy imposed to try seriously hurt small businesses in the state. At the same time, a little more than half said Murphy holds a great deal or “some responsibility for the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.”
Both candidates thought they did well in the debate.
“There’s no question who won tonight,” said Murphy, meeting with reporters afterward. “Yours truly.”
He added that it was good to be back on the debate stage.
“I had missed that and I will tell you the contrast could not be starker,” he said.
Ciattarelli said he was happy with his performance. As to who won, he replied, “That’s for the people of New Jersey to decide.”
The debates were mandated because both candidates received public matching funds for their campaigns.
So far Ciattarelli has received more than $5.5 million in matching state funds for the general election race, compared to Murphy’s $8.1 million, according to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission. Each candidate can get up to $10.5 million in public funds if they agree not to spend more than $15.6 million.
NJ Advance Media was a partner in the debate along with WABC-TV, WPVI-TV, Univision65, WHYY-FM radio, WCTC Radio, Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics, and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration.
Brian Taff of WPVI, Sade Baderinwa of WABC, Adriana Vargas-Sino of Univision and NJ Advance Media reporter Amanda Hoover were on stage to moderate the debate and ask questions, including some submitted by students and the public.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL
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