U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) called for four more years of Gov. Phil Murphy (D) at an early voting rally at Courtney Fricchione Park in Jersey City this afternoon.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Look, for the last four years you have demonstrated something to the rest of the world that people never thought could happen: you have a governor that has shown this country the way to get beyond a pandemic,” Clyburn said during remarks on stage.
“He has done things here that if he could do those things in the other 49 states, this pandemic would be way behind us and we’ve got to show that there is rewards for doing good. And one of those rewards is to return him to office.”
Beyond his pandemic response, Clyburn praised Murphy for “restoring voter rights” and decriminalizing marijuana.
“I don’t know what you call him, I just call him a good governor,” he concluded.
Murphy is seeking re-election on November 2nd against Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli, who has been highly critical about the incumbent’s pandemic response, pointing to small business closures and thousands of nursing home deaths at the beginning of the public health emergency.
While polling has showed Murphy leading by a comfortable margin for the majority of the race, the two most recent polls showed him up by just six and four points, respectively.
The Murphy campaign doesn’t appear to be taking anything for granted, holding a rally in Newark with former President Barack Obama (D) on Friday and an appearance in Kearny with President Joe Biden (D) scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
Hudson County Democratic Organization Chair Amy DeGise emceed today’s event and Jersey City Council President Joyce Watterman, County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), Assemblywoman Angela McKnight (D-31), Assemblyman Raj Mukherji (D-33), and New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chair LeRoy Jones among the speakers.
“Phil Murphy has been that gladiator over the past four years. He’s led us through the pandemic, he’s led us through the natural disaster Ida, and he will continue to lead us through the progressive agenda that embraces all people,” Jones stated, also commending Clyburn for his leadership.
Others who took the podium included Democratic Assembly nominee William Sampson (D-31), U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-10), and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop.
“Let me tell you about our governor here and the importance of the election on November 2nd: the last four years has been maybe the most trying times in modern history. Unprecedented challenges for the last year-and-a-half that we’ve all felt and then deal with every single day,” began Fulop.
“Difficult decisions, I can tell you as a executive in a city, make decisions every day that impact people’s lives regarding vaccines, regarding testing, regarding locations and ultimately there are choices every day that you make – and theres’ not good choice. Gov. Murphy had to manage that for the entire state of New Jersey and he did a terrific job.”
During his remarks, Murphy made his case that The Garden State has turned a corner during his tenure and there’s no reason to go backwards.
“I’m here to tell you we’ve turn a page. There’s a new era in New Jersey. It is sunrise in New Jersey. And we have made so much progress folks minimum wage, millionaire’s tax, and our pensions – we respect our union brothers and sisters unlike any other state,” the governor exclaimed.
“The strongest environmental agenda of any state in America, strongest gun safety laws of any state in America, families are moving in, businesses are moving in: we used to be on lists that we didn’t want to be on ‘the weakest this, the lowest that.’ Now we’re on lists that we’re proud to be on: ‘Number 1 state in America to raise a family,’ ‘Number 1 state in America to live in.”
Murphy is set to convene with Biden at the NJ Transit Meadowlands Maintenance Complex, located at 148 Newark-Jersey City Turnpike tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
Marxist Murphy. Governor making the Trump crazies sound, uhhhh, not totally nuts. Murphy campaigning with Bernie Sanders goes too far. Hudson Democrats: you have to stand for something other than keeping your foolish little jobs.