Overview

• Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli held a 90-minute, town-hall style debate at Rider University that focused on surging electricity bills, taxes, and the reach of the Trump administration in state policy.
• Sherrill said she would declare a state of emergency on day one to freeze utility rate hikes, faulted utility profits and Trump-era cuts to renewables, and cited data center demand straining the grid.
• Ciattarelli pledged to ban offshore wind off the Jersey Shore, expand nuclear and rooftop solar, repurpose power plants, and withdraw New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
• The rivals sparred over Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Medicaid work requirements, immigration policy, and political violence, with Ciattarelli backing a hate-crime designation for such attacks.
• A recent Quinnipiac poll shows Sherrill leading by about eight points as ad spending intensifies, early vote-by-mail begins, and a second debate is set for Oct. 8 in New Brunswick.