By The Staff
Eighteen days until Election Day, Save Jerseyans, and everyone wants to talk about momentum.
I’d rather talk about receipts.
This week brought another jaw-dropping Newark spending decision, a federal intervention to protect our regional electric grid, and fresh evidence that New Jersey voters aren’t nearly as allergic to election safeguards as the political establishment assumes.
Meanwhile? The battle for Congress is getting expensive — and the economy is delivering a more complicated verdict than either party’s campaign commercials would suggest.
Newark gets its nearly half-billion-dollar lease. Taxpayers get the bill. New Jersey’s Local Finance Board voted 4-2 Wednesday to approve a $498.4 million, 30-year lease for Newark’s proposed Riverfront Elementary School, designed for 667 students. The district would have an option to purchase the building for $1,000 after three decades. This followed a state audit identifying excess aid tied to overstated enrollment, questionable expenditures, and missing or outdated employee background clearances.
Republican legislators pushed back. Republican Monmouth County Commissioner Nick DiRocco voted yes. Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn separately called for a state monitor.
There’s your problem in miniature: Republicans can’t credibly campaign against Trenton’s spending culture while members of their own team help keep the assembly line running.
The electric grid needed more than a press release. On Monday, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order authorizing PJM to direct specified generating units to operate and call on backup generation under defined emergency conditions. The order covered October 13–16.
For New Jersey, the policy question should be obvious: where is the dependable electricity going to come from, and what will families pay for it?
An energy agenda that looks impressive at a podium still needs to work when somebody flips a switch.
Voter ID is apparently only controversial in certain buildings in Trenton. A Rutgers-Eagleton poll found 82% of New Jersey residents support photo identification requirements for in-person voting, while 71% support documentary proof of citizenship to register. A majority also expressed confidence that November’s votes would be counted accurately.
Those positions are perfectly compatible. You can trust an election’s administration and still favor stronger safeguards. Most normal people understand that without needing a consultant to explain it.
Kean isn’t out of the fight. Rebecca Bennett raised approximately $3.9 million in the third quarter, compared with Tom Kean Jr.’s roughly $975,000. That’s a serious Democratic fundraising advantage. But Kean entered the closing stretch with more cash remaining, thanks to earlier reserves and a slower spending pace.
The Seventh District remains a fight worth fighting. Republicans should spend less time conducting its funeral and more time turning out voters.
Booker’s bank account remains formidable. Cory Booker raised approximately $1.8 million during the quarter to Justin Murphy’s roughly $36,000. Their cash balances were even more lopsided: approximately $22.6 million versus $9,578.
Money doesn’t make an argument better. It does make sure more people hear it. Murphy’s challenge is translating attention into an actual turnout operation.
Nationally, the ghost of Biden-era inflation continues to lurk in the background — but it isn’t the entire economic story. September inflation accelerated to 3.7%, up from 3.4% in August, keeping pressure on household budgets just as voters prepare to render their midterm verdict.
But the doom-and-gloom crowd needs to account for some encouraging numbers, too. Weekly unemployment claims remained below 200,000 for a fifth consecutive week, indicating layoffs remain low. September’s unemployment rate was 4.2%. Hiring has slowed, but employers generally aren’t shedding workers en masse.
Production also advanced: industrial output rose 0.7% in September, including a 0.3% increase in manufacturing. Those are real gains, although factory growth slowed over the quarter.
Consumers kept spending, too. Retail sales increased 0.8% in September, following a revised 1.3% August gain. There’s a qualification: higher gasoline prices inflated September’s headline number, and the narrower measure excluding gasoline, residential and commercial building materials, automobiles, and food-related services rose just 0.1%.
The fair assessment? There’s economic resilience worth defending, alongside an affordability problem that still needs fixing.
Republicans have positive numbers to discuss. They also need to explain how that strength translates into breathing room for families. Nobody pays the grocery bill with a macroeconomic talking point.
The fight for Congress is entering its decisive stretch. Cook Political Report shifted 11 House contests toward Democrats this week, underscoring the danger facing the GOP’s narrow majority. Ratings aren’t results, however, thought it’s also true that dismissing every unfavorable signal isn’t a campaign strategy, either.
The Republican assignment over these final eighteen days is straightforward: explain how you’ll make life less expensive, demonstrate that you’ll challenge waste even when a fellow Republican is involved, and get your voters to cast ballots.
Outrage is plentiful, Save Jerseyans.
Follow-through is what wins elections.
