Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. I'm in Jersey City,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, with the Congressman for the eighth District of
Speaker 1: New Jersey, which represents most of Hudson County and a
Speaker 1: good chunk of Jersey City where I'm standing right now,
Speaker 1: Congressman Rob Menenda, is great to have you here, sir,
Speaker 1: on a day where I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: are really looking right now to the State House and
Speaker 1: wondering whether this is that year where we end up
Speaker 1: with a Republican governor for the first time in a while.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Listen, New Jersey and Virginia are the epicenter of the
Speaker 3: political universe right now here in America, and so Mikey's
Speaker 3: made the case every single day of this campaign. She
Speaker 3: came out of a contested primary, ran away with it,
Speaker 3: and every day she's been disciplined about the issues that
Speaker 3: New Jersey's are facing. So she knows there's an immense
Speaker 3: amount of work to do. She's raised her hand and
Speaker 3: dedicated herself to New Jersey, to the American people, and
Speaker 3: this moment she wants to deliver for New Jersey. And
Speaker 3: I believe that that has resonated with a lot of
Speaker 3: our voters.
Speaker 1: There's been some criticism of the campaign that Mikey Cheryl
Speaker 1: has been running, the idea that that campaign is a
Speaker 1: little bit more high level, it's about national issues, while
Speaker 1: Jack Chittarelli seems to be focusing a little bit more
Speaker 1: on the kitchen table and pocketbook book book issues. If
Speaker 1: you will, what are you hearing from voters as to
Speaker 1: what they actually want?
Speaker 4: What are they going to the polls to vote for today?
Speaker 2: So I think there's two main issues in this election.
Speaker 3: One is the affordability challenge that a lot of Americans
Speaker 3: and New Jerseyans are facing. Two is they want a
Speaker 3: governor that's going to stand up for New Jersey. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so at times work with the President, but when needed,
Speaker 3: stand up to this administration. We've seen in this administration
Speaker 3: overreach in La Portland, Chicago. If they come to New Jersey,
Speaker 3: we want a governor who's going to protect us. And
Speaker 3: so those are the two issues I hear the most,
Speaker 3: and Mikey's been laser focused on both of those issues.
Speaker 3: She's talked about affordability and what her administration would do
Speaker 3: to address that here in New Jersey. She's also made
Speaker 3: it clear that she will stand up to Trump. So
Speaker 3: I think those two issues are the center of this election,
Speaker 3: and I think she's done a really good job of
Speaker 3: articulating a clear message to New Jersey voters.
Speaker 1: And talking to voters, you hear a lot about housing affordability,
Speaker 1: but as a blake, we're also hearing a lot about
Speaker 1: the issue of affordability of electricity. Power prices jump more
Speaker 1: than twenty percent on a year over year basis. Part
Speaker 1: of that's good, I guess that's a sign that you're
Speaker 1: getting these data centers and other things moving to the state.
Speaker 1: But when it raises the bills for homeowners and businesses,
Speaker 1: you need something to address that.
Speaker 4: What's the plan.
Speaker 3: So she's made it clear that in day one of
Speaker 3: her administration she's going to declare a state of emergency
Speaker 3: on the energy price hikes. There's an imense amount of
Speaker 3: work that we have to do with our regional operator PGM,
Speaker 3: the production that we have in New Jersey, and we
Speaker 3: also have to look at how demand has changed. You
Speaker 3: mentioned AI data centers. It's good for New Jersey to
Speaker 3: be a leader on AI. You need those data centers
Speaker 3: to do so, but they require an immense amount of energy.
Speaker 3: There are ways, and we're looking at it in Congress.
Speaker 3: It's one of the things that I'm doing on energy
Speaker 3: and commerce to think about how that increased energy demand,
Speaker 3: which could be thirteen percent of all energy demand in
Speaker 3: the next several years, how that doesn't get pushed to
Speaker 3: our consumers, our residents. So it's going to take an
Speaker 3: all hands, whole of government approach. But she's made that
Speaker 3: a clear priority of hers and that's a Day one priority,
Speaker 3: so I know it's something that she's looking forward to
Speaker 3: tackling as governor.
Speaker 4: Another big issue, of course is taxation.
Speaker 1: The idea of addressing some of the budget issues potentially
Speaker 1: raising the sales tax once again as well as corporate taxation.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's something a that the governor, no
Speaker 1: matter who it is, would actually follow it through on
Speaker 1: and would there be enough support at the State House
Speaker 1: to see that throw.
Speaker 3: Well, I think you can take innovative ways, right Like
Speaker 3: I think, yes, Traditionally, money and money out right, So
Speaker 3: if we need to spend to grow and build New Jersey,
Speaker 3: then we need to raise the revenue to do so.
Speaker 3: But on something like mass transit and infrastructure, there are
Speaker 3: ways to do it where you look at the assets
Speaker 3: that Enjy transit has that are underutilized, and if you
Speaker 3: can make better use of them, you can actually create
Speaker 3: revenue for the state without having to raise taxes raise
Speaker 3: the levee. So I think Mikey is going to have
Speaker 3: an innovative approach. I don't think she's just going to
Speaker 3: go and say we have to raise taxes because we
Speaker 3: have to pay for A, B and C. I think
Speaker 3: she's going to look about how the state has underutilized assets,
Speaker 3: how to make better use of them to reduce the
Speaker 3: tax Burand on New Jersey, it's because it goes into
Speaker 3: affordability crisis, whether it's energy, whether it's taxes.
Speaker 2: These are what people are thinking about.
Speaker 1: You represent Jersey City, the second most populous city in
Speaker 1: the state and really third most populous really in the
Speaker 1: entire New York metro area. It's seen phenomenal growth over
Speaker 1: the past few years in terms of new residents and
Speaker 1: new businesses.
Speaker 4: How do you get more businesses.
Speaker 1: And not just the big companies, but small and medium
Speaker 1: sized businesses to actually set up shop here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you have to have a competitive landscape.
Speaker 3: So I think New Jersey's done that well. On the
Speaker 3: film industry, right, we've seen an announcement in Bay Owned
Speaker 3: where they're opening up a new studio. We have one
Speaker 3: here in Jersey City, we have one in Newark. Government
Speaker 3: needs to work with private sector, and that's things like
Speaker 3: giant studios to small medium sized businesses. You have to
Speaker 3: have a competitive landscape. It's something that we think about
Speaker 3: the federal level. I know municipalities think about it, and
Speaker 3: that's something that the state needs to continue to lead on.
Speaker 3: We want to drive business here. We want to grow
Speaker 3: homegrown businesses that are at the center of places like
Speaker 3: Jersey City and make sure that we create an environment
Speaker 3: for them to do so well.
Speaker 1: We're missing not asking you about the government shutdown. We're
Speaker 1: now basically out officially at thirty five the longest government
Speaker 1: shut down, longest full government shut down in history. Where
Speaker 1: is the discussion right now between Democrats and Republicans in Congress,
Speaker 1: particularly in the Senate. Are we any closer to actually
Speaker 1: getting this result?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think we are inching closer.
Speaker 3: But you know, for us, it's been a clear mission
Speaker 3: that goes back to the affordability challenge and specifically for Democrats'
Speaker 3: health care. You know, Republicans voiling to take a trillion
Speaker 3: dollars out of Medicaid. That's going to make health care
Speaker 3: more expensive for everyone. We know at the end of
Speaker 3: the year the ACA premium tax rates expire, so if
Speaker 3: you allow those to expire, premiums are going to increase
Speaker 3: for everyone on the exchange. At some point, it has
Speaker 3: to stop, right we're talking about SNAP and the administration
Speaker 3: not funding it. Well before that, they had the largest
Speaker 3: cut to SNAP in the program's history. So the pain
Speaker 3: has to stop because we see it every day when
Speaker 3: we're out with our constituents. That's what Democrats have been
Speaker 3: fighting for. The center of it has been healthcare and
Speaker 3: continue to fight for that. And Republicans look like they're
Speaker 3: interested in having a conversation specifically on the ACA, and
Speaker 3: I hope we get to that conversation get the government
Speaker 3: back open.
Speaker 1: Are you comfortable though, with the leadership by the Democrats
Speaker 1: in Congress and trying to navigate through this crisis.
Speaker 3: Listen, we're in the triple minority, right, and so we've
Speaker 3: drawn a line in the stand that for are the
Speaker 3: American people, we have to deliver more affordable health care.
Speaker 3: That message has resonated with people. When I'm out, people say,
Speaker 3: hold the line, keep fighting for us. Because if we
Speaker 3: do nothing, we will not be able to afford our healthcare,
Speaker 3: our housing, our prescription drugs. That's what Democrats are fighting for,
Speaker 3: and they're happy to see us do so, and they
Speaker 3: are in this fight with us, all right.
Speaker 1: Circling back to the election here in New Jersey, I
Speaker 1: do have to ask you, we've had four years here
Speaker 1: of film Murphy. Maybe potentially that legacy continues with the
Speaker 1: Mikey Cheryl. When you take a look at Murphy's legacy,
Speaker 1: what do you think he got right? And more importantly,
Speaker 1: what do you think he maybe did not take advantage of?
Speaker 3: So? I mean, I think he got an immense amount
Speaker 3: right on moving the state forward, on a lot of
Speaker 3: things that we're responsive to us happening in the first
Speaker 3: Trump administration, codifying you know, reproductive healthcare here in New Jersey.
Speaker 3: He's done a immense amount to drive the economy here
Speaker 3: from being an AI, a leader on AI to tech
Speaker 3: to film studio. So he's done a lot to grow
Speaker 3: New Jersey, grow New Jersey's profile. You know, I think
Speaker 3: on the energy front, I think we could have diversified
Speaker 3: our approach a little bit more to not bake so
Speaker 3: much of it into offshore wind, but to really maximize solar,
Speaker 3: to look at nuclear.
Speaker 2: To look at fusion.
Speaker 3: But he still did so much, and I'm really proud
Speaker 3: that he was our governor for these important years.
Speaker 1: Only about thirty seconds left, but looking ahead to the
Speaker 1: potential results that we get tonight, the polls have gotten
Speaker 1: a little bit tighter over the last few weeks. Tuldarelli
Speaker 1: has really closed the gap with Cheryl. You think she's
Speaker 1: still going to pull it out.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: I've seen the momentum on the ground in the last
Speaker 3: several days. Last night and you can say two days
Speaker 3: ago in West New York, it's pappable and people know
Speaker 3: it's on the line. I think when they're in this
Speaker 3: final moment they have to make a decision in the
Speaker 3: ballot box, they're going to go with Mikey because she's
Speaker 3: a true leader for New Jersey.
Speaker 4: All right, Really appreciate you, Thanks for us Congressman, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: That's Congressman Rob Menendez of the eighth District here in
Speaker 1: the state of New Jersey. As we keep a close
Speaker 1: eye here on the goubnatorial race.