How President Trump Impacts the NJ Senate Race

Steve Adubato sits down with Brendan Gill, Democratic Strategist and President & CEO of The BGill Group, and Mike DuHaime, Republican Strategist and Partner, Mercury, to talk about different perspectives within the Republican and Democratic parties and how the Senate race is impacted by President Trump.

10/13/18 #224

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"We're pleased to welcome two very good friends of the show, Brendan Gill, Democratic Strategist, excuse me, Essex County Freeholder and Principal in the BGill Group and also Mike DuHaime, Republican Strategist, Partner at Mercury. Good to see you gentlemen. Thank you Steve. Thank you Steve. You want to talk a little politics? Sure. Sure. Okay. We're in the Fall of 2018, are people engaged in the so-called midterm election with the US Senate race? Bob Menendez, Bob Hugin, and a bunch of Congressional races, are people saying "Hey, I'm in"? I gotta tell you Steve, from the Democratic side of the aisle, I have never seen this much engagement in a midterm election year. I've been involved in campaigns up and down this state over the last 20 years. I happened to also participate, you know, in local party activity. I have never had more people raising their hand to volunteer, to canvass, to phone bank, to plug in. So there is a lot of engagement. You see energy? What do you see Mike? There's a lot of energy out there. Yeah I think one way you engage intensity and energy is through the number of votes, the sheer number of votes that are cast, and looking at primaries is a bit of a harbinger. And if you look at what happened in New York, the turnout in New York, just a few days ago, the... last week. The Cuomo primary? The Cuomo primary was double what it was four years ago. If you look at the New Jersey primary this year, Democrats had a very high turnout. And it's something that people overlooked in the 2016 Presidential Election. There was far more intensity on the Republican side in the primaries. There was so much focus on Donald Trump. But Hillary Clinton was getting far fewer votes than Barack Obama when he won the primary. So there is intensity on the side... on the Democrat side. I think you have to... if you're a Republican, you have to see that and acknowledge it, and obviously figure out a way to fight through it. But that intensity is there. I would agree with Mike on that point too, Steve. And also one even statistic from the Gubernatorial Election last year, in the state, in the Democratic primary, there were more votes... Governor Murphy at that time... candidate Murphy at that time received... Did you run that campaign? I did run that campaign. I'm joking. We know you ran the campaign! [laughter] Go ahead! Ah, it's okay. Oh, you know. [laughter] Go ahead! Alright. You gotta get it when you can. While we're at it..."