The Princeton Community Democratic Organization issued a statement today saying that Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer are NOT attending their NJ gubernatorial candidate forum tomorrow night. Disappointing. Sean Spiller, Steve Fulop, Ras Baraka, and Steve Sweeney are all still coming.

We cannot become jaded about what this means. Five federal prosecutors of both parties— including those appointed by the Trump administration— say they cannot conduct their work ethically and free of political interference under this president.

Welcome Debaters and Debate Fans! Please keep in mind that the theater is filled to capacity. If your name is not already registered, you will need to watch on the livestream, available at On NJ and NJ Globe. Will also be rebroadcast on CSPAN.

This Sunday! As in the day after tomorrow. Can’t wait.

The federal government has now explicitly endorsed political violence and justified the use of force against police officers to achieve one’s own ends. And there’s no getting around that.

"We've always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own. Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy."

The rest of the nation wonders how Rep. Kay Granger could wind up missing for six months and turn up living in a memory care facility, possibly unable to resign. In New Jersey, we think of Sen. Sandra Cunningham and say, “hold my beer.”

I have a feeling that midterm voters will have the last word on the question of checks, balances and lack thereof. www.mediaite.com/tv/house-rep...

Save the dates NJ - Feb 2 + Feb 4. First debates for governor race candidates by @newjerseypolitics.bsky.social and @njglobe.bsky.social The primary isn’t until June, but there are so many serious contenders it will easily take 5 months for them to make their case they should be hired to run NJ.

For the centennial series "100 Years of 100 Things," Micah Rasmussen @newjerseypolitics.bsky.social reflects on the history of New Jersey's Star-Ledger newspaper, which will end its print edition next year: www.wnyc.org/story/100-ye...

Incredibly excited to share this tremendous learning experience with Rider students.

No matter what our partisan stripe, we should be able to agree the United States Postal Service is a crucial asset that was built and is owned by all of us, and there is zero mandate from the public to turn it over to an oligarch. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Re the ballot bill: 1. The words Republican and Democrat can’t be owned or controlled by anyone. 2. A party organization should be able to decide who uses its official name. 3. A person should be able to decide who can use his or her name. No bans.

Thanks to @CommerceNJ and President Anthony Russo for the chance to talk 2025 with board members today in Paramus.

It is possible to gain from Brian Thompson's death without honoring or glorifying his killer. As usual, the media makes this an either/or proposition. The moment still begs important questions about rewarding the denial of American health care for enormous profit.

Old enough to remember when this was the textbook definition of judicial restraint— and the expectation of SCOTUS: “I am concerned that some federal courts are succumbing to the temptation” to rely on standing as a way of “avoiding particularly contentious constitutional questions,” Alito wrote.

Anyone who thinks we are not rationing health care in this country has not scheduled a visit to a specialist.

Choose wisely, incumbents.

Democrats got a lot of credit from the public for reducing the deficit during the Clinton years, and could again if they make this their consistent principle for the next two years. Added bonus: it would be a justification for constraint on Trump spending priorities.

www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12... “…health care executives can often receive threats because of the nature of their work” is an euphemism for making life and death decisions to ration care.

Some New Jersey news from the U.S. Senate… www.axios.com/2024/12/02/k...

There’s a reason pardons are issued on the way out the door. Now every Senate Republican will be forced to confirm a blackmailer who hired a prostitute to seduce his own brother-in-law, and sent the tape to his own sister. To be the face of the U.S.— a laughing stock again.

Glad to participate in this national preview of next year's big election in New Jersey. abcnews.go.com/Politics/off...

Pardons are one of the Constitution's ways of checking power. When a future executive has promised to use power to punish perceived opponents, and the current executive can check him en masse, Eleanor Clift is right: he should. www.thedailybeast.com/trump-wants-...

The Keystone pipeline Trump wants to “bring back” will not be economically viable if the Trump tariffs apply to ALL of what is imported from Canada.

Though it's possible George Norcross is correct and the extortion he is alleged to have committed is the usual "hardball business negotiations" of New Jersey politics: 1. "Everyone does it" is not a defense. 2. Not everyone has the political power to make good on threats.

If you mention extortion again, I'll have your legs broken.

Vandalay and Company is a real firm operating in New Jersey. Can Kramerica Industries be far off?

“I know that there are hardworking people who don’t have skeletons in their closet. And I wish we were electing people with fewer skeletons in their closet.” www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

To be clear, this is not a prediction that he or anyone else will win. Maybe the county organizations will prevail, though Fulop clearly likes his odds. What these running mates give him is more of a foothold in these counties than he'd otherwise have without them.

Fulop, more than any other single factor, is why we will see record-high participation in the 2025 Democratic primary. Voters have real choices + county orgs have no choice but to mobilize because they have no idea how serious a threat these challenges are to their turf in a post-line world.

Join us tonight!

Money is not going to be an obstacle in this race. Certainly was never going to be for Fulop, Gottheimer, Sweeney or Spiller; now, Sherrill is making it clear that she will make quick work of the required thresholds, too. Baraka will be the last one to watch, and I suspect he will be fine as well.

Both Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer could substantially reduce the amount of time it takes to elect their replacement, if they are elected, by pledging to tender their resignation on the day after the election, effective on the day they are sworn in.

Fascinating glimpse of the sausage-making from Ann Selzer. Spoiler: something happened in Iowa, and we still have no good idea what it was. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

Join us next week for this timely and important discussion! Reserve your seat at rider.edu/bramnick.

Hello. Can you hear me now? @josephrusso.bsky.social