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