Princeton’s NAACP chapter hosted a forum for candidates for the governor of New Jersey on Friday ahead of the June 10 primary and Nov. 5 general election.
Seven candidates participated: CEO of Clean Energy Advisor 4 U Stephen Zielinski, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) and Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Former New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) President and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop.
All candidates were Democrats, except Zielinski, who is running independently for the Green Party. Isabella Rayes, a member of the audience from South Jersey, said that she was “really surprised that they invited GOP candidates, and they didn’t show up.” Throughout the panel, candidates discussed similar opinions, with little disagreement.
Moderated by journalist Anthony Johnson of ABC7, the panel addressed the candidates’ views on housing, clean energy, police reform, and more. The candidates collectively expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders. Fulop described this as a “lack of progress that we’re seeing in the federal administration in Washington.”
The candidates communicated urgency for New Jersey voters to vote in this upcoming election, pointing out New Jersey’s close results in the 2024 presidential race, where Trump narrowly lost by five points.
Representative Mikie Sherrill said, “That's what makes this race in 2025 so incredibly important, so we can chart a different course here than what we see coming from Washington.”
Ian Mann ’28 attended the panel. He is originally from Chicago but registered to vote in New Jersey, mainly because it is “one of only two states with a gubernatorial election” in 2025.
Mann, a member of the College Democrats, was pleased with the panel. “I was happy to see the pretty wide range of questions, especially on voter rights.” Mann noted that the panel was “pretty well attended.”
The seven candidates offered different views on rent control, addressing New Jersey’s housing affordability crisis. The average rent in New Jersey is $2,500, which is 20.48 percent higher than the national average of $2,075.
Josh Gottheimer described his tax cut proposal, which “gives a property tax cut of nearly 15 percent across the board.” Gottheimer’s plan is expected to benefit three million families.
Baraka was in favor of rent control, even if it was temporary.
“Every single property in the state of New Jersey has to be stabilized,” he said.
Sherril pushed back on the success of rent control in New York City and focused on the lack of houses as a whole. “We’re about 200,000 houses short of where we need to be,” Sherrill said. “[I’ve] come up with a plan so we can push money into remediating and repurposing commercial properties.”
This plan supports commercial-to-residential building conversions that will be available to people making “100 percent, 80 percent, and 60 percent of the area median income.”
New Jersey’s history of redlining — the discriminatory practice of denying home loans based on geography to people of color — has led to segregated school districts. With 9.3 million residents and 593 school districts, the distribution of students to schools is uneven, often resulting in students attending schools based on their residential area codes.
“Our state is the sixth-worst segregated school system in the nation,” Sweeney said.
When asked about educational funding, all candidates expressed that they would fight for it in New Jersey. Fulop proposed a constitutional amendment to New Jersey’s State Constitution that would restructure the Department of Education.
“The Department of Education is not codified as it should be in the state constitution,” Fulop said.
Sean Spiller, a former science teacher and the president of New Jersey’s education association, emphasized the importance of adequate educational funding
New Jersey’s healthcare costs per-person are 15 percent higher than the national average. The candidates expressed the need for affordable solutions and the importance of making Medicare accessible for all.
Before the panel, in an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Zielinski outlined his plan for Medicare for All, motivated by his personal commitment to fighting cancer.
“We are called the Garden State, but we spray more pesticides and herbicides on our crops than any other state,” Zielinski said. “I want to make New Jersey the first fully organic, regenerative state in the nation.”
Turning from agriculture to broader environmental goals, current New Jersey Governor Murphy set the goal of obtaining 100 percent clean energy by 2035. Zielinski cautioned that progress may be slower and referenced a target date of 2045.
“I think we need an objective to meet,” Baraka said. “But I also think we should continue to pursue solar energy. In Newark and Paterson, we’ve already gotten federal grants to begin to expand solar in our cities.”
Chris-Tina Middlebrooks ’27, the president of Princeton’s chapter of the NAACP, asked the panelists if they support lowering the voting age to 16 for school board elections. All candidates supported lowering the voting age, a change that Ras Baraka had already implemented in Newark.
In closing remarks, candidates reiterated their commitments to reducing living costs for New Jersey residents. Sweeney was not present for the closing statements.
Fulop extended the panel’s overwhelming concern about Trump’s activities to the state itself. “The country is at a crossroads, but the state is at a crossroads too.”
Clara Docherty is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Correction: a previous version of this article said that Gottheimer’s tax plan is known as State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT). In fact, SALT is unrelated to the tax plan. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.
Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to clarify the stances of Sherrill and Baraka on rent control. Additionally, this piece has been updated to clarify Murphy's clean energy goal and Zielinski’s stance on the goal.
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