In a time when political debates often turn toxic, two longtime state lawmakers, one Republican, one Democrat, are hitting the road with a different message, one touting civility.

Senators John Bramnick and Joe Kryan have launched what they're calling the College Civility Tour.

It's a series of live campus debates aimed at showing political opponents can agree without being disagreeable.

An idea that was formed in the wake of political activist Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Raven Santana reports.

I am sad about what I see.

Just listen a little more.

Listen to the end of the thought.

Nearly 100 students got a lesson in civility from an unlikely duo, Republican Senator John Bramnick and Democratic Senator Joe Kryan.

It's all part of their New Jersey College Campus Civility Tour, now in its second stop at Union County College.

The idea?

To show college students that politics doesn't have to be toxic and that people on opposite sides of the aisle can debate issues without the shouting match.

Really need to make more of an effort on college campuses and honestly beyond college campuses to engage in dialogue in respectful ways and respectful doesn't necessarily mean that we need to toe the line about what we believe in.

The tour is being billed as a series of public debates sparked, they say by growing concerns about political violence, including the assassination of conservative activist, Charlie Kirk earlier this year.

The murder of Charlie Kirk is horrific.

Um, just a few months before that, we had attacks on, uh, state legislators in Minnesota.

And if you look back at history, um, political violence, you know, the massacres, the massacres of the people who were massacres of the people who were killed, the massacres of the massacres of the people who were killed, the massacres of the people who were killed, the massacres of the people who were killed, the massacres of the people who were killed, the killed, the massacres of the people who were killed, the massacres of the people who were killed, the massacres of the students at Rutgers, the tours first stop told me that the message couldn't come at a better time.

And here at Union County College, the president says she hopes the event is a model for how we can move forward.

We're having a Republican and a Democrat.

We see so much division in our nation.

The Reds on one side, the Blues on the other.

We're putting them both on the stage here at UCNJ to prove, to demonstrate, and also, yes, to role model that we can disagree, but we can still get along and live peacefully together.

easier said than done, some students I spoke with admitted.

I've only really met a certain number of people in certain groups, but I haven't seen them together to see how they debate.

Like everybody's always going to be aggressive when it comes to politics, and that's why I just choose to stay out of it for the most part.

The Senators didn't shy away from hot-button topics from gun laws to hate speech to the role of social media and cable TV in fueling division.

So people today only listen to their cable channel or their app.

They have become isolated.

And when they get together, people on other sides of the aisle, it becomes instant conflict.

When the leader of the free world and the leader of the United States of America says, "I hate my opponents," and literally falls in partisan terms with the vehement and the emotion, I think that's a scary time for all."

That call for civility comes as New Jersey's governor's race turns increasingly bitter, with Mikey Sherrill and Jack Ciarrelli's attacks on each other getting more heated, especially following the controversy over the release of Congresswoman Sherrill's military records.

"In the governor's race, certainly in the last week, with the, I think by their own account, the archives, illegal release of things has certainly put the race into a different stratosphere in terms of level of discussion and level of where it is."

"I think it's a very close race as long as they stick to the issues.

I'm not too big on personal attacks."

Both senators reminded students why they're on this tour to show that politics works best when it's focused on issues, not insults, and to encourage having the courage to listen, even when you disagree.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

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