Well, it was already a crowded field.

And now one more contender is jumping into the fray.

Former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac has joined the race for the Republican nomination for governor.

The self-proclaimed Forever Trumper is an attorney and venture capitalist who says he'd follow in the footsteps of President Trump and Elon Musk if elected.

But Kranjack announced his candidacy too late to participate in a GOP primary debate hosted last night at Rider University, which might not be a bad thing.

The fiery event between the four frontrunners in the race turned into a gloves off dogfight where little policy was discussed.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz reports.

On his Here's how to.

Sell 65.

Thousand dollars.

Really?

Well, I've got to be honest, Jack, you are embarrassing yourself tonight.

They came looking for a fight and they got one.

The quarrelsome quartet of Republicans vying for the gubernatorial nomination shouted, insulted, and generally argued their way through their first joint debate.

All right, I'm taking over.

I'm taking over right now, Joey.

Fox is next.

You guys have got to stop interrupting each other.

What polling there has been on this race suggests that Jack, generally the former assemblyman in his third race for governor and Bill Spadina, the former morning radio show host, have the highest name recognition, while Senator Jon Bramnick and former Senator Ed der came in trying to make an impression.

Do you think the people of New Jersey want the debate to be who loves Donald Trump the most or who loves New Jersey the most?

The only way to fix New Jersey is by doing something different.

Well, I'm.

Different.

While the candidate saved plenty of bile for Governor Murphy, they were also forced to address policy issues, and the answers seemed intent on showing Republican voters just how conservative the candidates could be.

I'm not.

Ashamed.

I'm pro-life, and I stand by that.

And I do not agree with abortion being used as a form of birth control.

When we have so many options available for birth control.

I am pro-choice with a strong feeling about late term abortions.

I do not support, but I am pro-choice.

I've always supported a woman's right to choose.

What I also support is a bill introduced by two of our most conservative state senators, called the pain threshold Bill that says no abortions after five months of pregnancy within with reasonable exceptions.

No, we already have the most access to abortions.

We are the highest abortions state as a per capita around the country.

There was also discussion about affordable housing and New Jersey Transit where there was mostly agreement, although solutions varied.

Clearly, we should not be telling municipalities you need to build this many units in your town.

That is really poor democratic planning.

We should not be building any affordable housing in an area that doesn't have the transportation or the jobs or the water infrastructure or energy infrastructure, transportation infrastructure.

We have those places.

They're called.

Cities.

I believe the turnpike, the parkway and transit should all be under one authority.

The Garden State Transportation Authority, with people appointed by me that know what they're doing to get the job done.

The candidates agreed on ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and giving parents more direct input into school issues while funneling more state aid to suburban schools under a new school funding formula.

They all said that they support the president's mass deportation initiatives and would all, even the heretofore anti-Trump Bramnick invite President Trump to campaign for them.

I do it because I respect the office of the presidency as the president of United States.

He hasn't done just bad stuff.

He's done some good stuff.

Everyone knows I'm not his biggest fan.

But when a president does something that's good for New Jersey, I will support him.

That was newsworthy for many observers.

Also of note from the debate and the press availability afterwards, Bill Spanier saying he would serve just one term as governor if elected.

And is literally calling for articles of impeachment to be drawn up against Governor Murphy for allegedly harboring an undocumented resident in his mama's home.

Something the governor has walked back in more recent statements.

The candidates will meet at least two more times before the primary, which is just over four months away.

I'm David Kruse, NJ Spotlight News.