>> major funding for "Chat Box with David Cruz" is provided by the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

♪ David: Hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Chat Box."

election Day has come and gone and the results are in -- Donald Trump the President-elect.

In New Jersey, what that means going forward is a source of some trepidation among Democrats .

Republicans, not so much.

We talk with the state Republican chairman in just a bit, but we begin with the standard bearer of the state Democratic Party, Governor Phil Murphy.

Governor, good to see you.

You met with the press this week .

A terrible loss for Democrats in New Jersey.

There really is no other way to look at it, right?

Governor Murphy: I think there is.

Huge underperformance at the Democratic ticket.

Not unique to New Jersey.

Maryland, California are the ones that come to mind.

10 to 12 points of underperformance, but if you look down ballot, we won a lot of races, including in places where Trump won, so Passaic County, two incumbent commissioners, one new commissioner, one new sheriff all won by decent margins.

A new member of Congress.

A sobering day.

I'm not making light of that whatsoever.

A sobering day by any measure if you are a Democrat, but the top of the ticket was really the major underperformance.

We lost the Sue Altman-Tom Kane race, which I had hoped Sue would be closer than she was and with a better performance at the top of the ticket, she would have been competitive.

It is a new day for America, though.

There's no question about that.

David: I want to talk about the broader picture.

Sue Altman, which a lot of people thought was going to be closer.

She lost by seven points or something like that.

And Nellie Poe in a district where the late Bill Pascrell would win easily by 100,000 votes all the time.

She won by maybe three or four percentage points, and it took an overnight for it to get cold.

Those are two races where Democrats did not show up well.

Does it have an indication, do you think, for next year's editorial race where Democrats are going to need to come out stronger?

I'm looking at you, Passaic County.

>> I don't think it does.

There's the dynamic of statewide races.

Very different, as you know, as compared to a district race.

If you told me that Kamala Harris would have had a similar top of the ballot performance as Joe Biden did in 2020, Sue was somewhere between competitive and winning that district, but you cannot win that district if you are a Democrat, I think, with the top of the card performing like it did.

Nellie, in the district -- not the entirety of it, but most of the district Trump won, he is a new face.

Bill, God rest his soul, just died.

I don't think those reasons travel to next year, any of those.

David: What's Harris's just not a strong candidate?

Governor Murphy: I don't know.

I suspect not.

Nobody talks about this.

What was the reason?

She only became the candidate July 21, a very short runway.

Did they get a chance to fully introduce herself?

It's quite clear the kitchen table economic fear was real.

Immigration fear.

I think what feeds into that kitchen table dynamic -- somebody who is here is going to take my job -- if that's true or not, Trump played it brilliantly.

Crime and safety.

She could not separate herself and chose not to separate herself from the Biden administration track record.

And I'm a huge fan of the president.

He has done a great job, but his numbers are lousy.

Probably something in and around being a woman if not a woman of color.

I suspect it is a big soup with a lot of different reasons that ultimately got us here.

Remember that movie "network?"

I suspect there were a lot of people screaming out "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

our job is to respect the peaceful transition and move forward.

David: We talked about groups where the former president now the President-elect did well and among those groups was white women and folks without college education, not to mention inroads into black and brown communities.

Was it message or presentation or was it organization?

Governor Murphy: That's a good question.

Was the position wrong?

Was the way we communicated our position wrong?

Was the messenger wrong?

Probably a little bit of everything.

I don't know that it was organization.

Their field operation was I felt really impressive, particularly in the battleground states.

Shows you what I know.

We lost a couple, but, yeah, I suspect it's a combination of a lot of things.

It's just hard for me to get my arms around how women could support Donald Trump in the numbers they support him given his positions and his rhetoric.

David: Yeah.

Governor Murphy: But the numbers don't lie.

David: That is a real head scratcher.

You are right on that.

When we talk to black and Latino voters and other voters of color, they almost overwhelmingly say that the Democratic Party has taken them for granted and has continued to take them for granted despite warnings about that in the past -- Hillary Clinton.

What do you say to that?

Democrats need to reimagine their conversation with these communities, no?

Governor Murphy: Yeah.

The answer has to be yes.

You cannot take anybody for granted, for sure.

This guy, you know, he has been underestimated at every turn, and in the communities you are speaking of, particularly the Latino community, he has found a way in there, not withstanding -- like my comment about women -- notwithstanding what he stands for and what he has said in his rhetoric.

But, listen, we are kidding ourselves if we don't take a long, hard look at ourselves in the mirror and really dig in as to what happened and why it happened as a party nationally.

I am an optimist.

I'm confident that we will do that and recover and be strong again, but we will not be if we blame it on somebody else or we don't take the time to really dig in and analyze this.

David: In terms of -- you know, when we spoke to you this week at your press conference the day after election day, you talked about working with the President-elect and noted that your first three years of your first term were with Donald Trump as president, and you said we will fight like hell when his interests do not coincide with the interests of New Jersey or if he tries to attack New Jersey, but we will work with him when we can as we did during the Covid crisis, but that begs the question, Governor -- I know you want to be a diplomat, but what happens when he starts talking about mass deportations?

And arresting opponents, ending civil service, a national abortion ban?

Those are things he has said he wants to do.

Are you one of those who says don't taken literally for everything?

>> no, no, there's no common ground.

Let me be crystal clear -- there is no common ground on any of those items.

We will fight like hell and fight to the death and we have proven that.

Your premise is right.

We had our first three years as governor, President Trump was in office.

We either work fighting or defending fiercely our interests, our values, our communities, and at the same time, we were trying to find common ground, but we will not find common ground in any of those values or commitments that he has made.

I promise you that.

We will be along if not leading the pack pushing hard and fighting like hell.

David: Certainly looks like Republicans will be controlling all three branches of government.

When you see an extreme agenda like that and then you couple that with Republicans in the House and Senate who owe their careers now to this president, that almost seems like a perfect storm for an authoritarian government.

Governor Murphy: Yeah, that is the fear.

That is not an unfounded concern based on very explicit things he has said and his allies and other elected officials in his camp have said.

We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and that is exactly what we are going to do in New Jersey.

David: You touched on this a little bit about this undercurrent of misogyny.

Coming from men but also from women, who, as you noted, voted for this guy, who has said some vile things about women.

Governor Murphy: Yeah.

Again, it is hard to argue with any of that.

It is hard to get my mind around that.

What he has said, what he stands for, what he did to the Supreme Court, what he has done to abortion and reproductive freedoms, and the misogynistic stuff, the legal issues he has had in this space, and then you look at his wedding, his winning decisively, including among women.

That is pretty sobering.

David: How do you approach your first conversation with this newly empowered and emboldened President-elect?

Governor Murphy: I have not spoken with him.

We saw him in late July.

I have not spoken with him since he won.

I suspect, knowing that he uses his phone a lot, we will speak soon, and I have to listen.

I have to respect the election and the numbers, so I will congratulate him and tell him basically a version of what you and I are saying.

"Mr. President, you should know we are going to disagree on a series of things, but that should not prevent us from finding common ground, just as we did in our first three years in office.

That is my message.

David: Somebody asked you during your press conference if there needed to be some changes in the Democratic Party statewide.

How do you begin to recover?

You guys need to have a serious conversation.

As you noted, you are the standardbearer.

Is this all on you or do they need to work it out because you are going to be out of here pretty soon?

Governor Murphy: I'm not going to shirk my responsibility.

This requires a very sober, clear eye, cold-blooded assessment and reassessment of everything, but I think this is first and foremost a national Democratic Party reckoning moment.

David: What would you say?

You have been a former leader of the Governors Association and Democratic leaders Association.

You know all of these folks.

What's the first thing you want to say to them?

>> I think the first thing I want to say is what you and I are talking about.

Lets everybody stop making excuses and blaming it on the other guy, and let's boil this down to a cold-blooded assessment of exactly who we are and how we got here and what we need to do differently.

You've got the usual national organs.

By the way, we held steady with Democratic governors.

I'm proud of that.

We held where we were before election day.

We did not in the Senate, did not in the house and did not in the White House, and I think that reckoning has to happen in a very stark, immediate fashion.

David: Points for finding the silver linings in New Jersey.

Governor Phil Murphy, thanks a lot for taking time with us.

Enjoy your time in the U.K..

Governor Murphy: Thanks for having me.

Take care.

David: Meanwhile, a good week for Republicans who appear to have won control of all three branches of the federal government.

New Jersey Republican Party chairman was keeping a close eye on all of it and joins us now.

Chairman, good to see you.

Welcome.

>> great to be with you.

>> I don't think anybody expected this race to be so one-sided.

Even you were not as hot for the President-elect.

>> the country is divided, but I have to tell you, the Republican party today really is the party of the working class, the working man and woman who work hard every day to make it paycheck-to-paycheck.

I think the results are not surprising, but I'm certainly glad the way they turned out.

David: You can get in a debate about who is the party of the working man and woman, but that's not what we are really here to talk about today.

Talking about the President-elect, he is the very definition of hyperbolic, but some of what he has promised -- massive deportations, arresting his enemies, ending civil service, tariffs on everything -- he cannot just do that, right?

Surely there are guardrails.

Also, where are the guardrails?

Chair Hugin: I mean, listen, the narrative of the whole campaign was hyperbolic on both sides.

I do think when you think about President Trump -- David: I have to stop you there.

I'm sorry, but you say it's hyperbolic on both parts.

The other side, the Democrats were not saying they are going to arrest -- Chair Hugin: Wait a minute, David, David, the man was shot at.

He was shot.

Those on the left talking about the threat to democracy, the what is going to end if you elect this man.

Look at what Oprah Winfrey said -- David: But the journalist did not shoot him.

Chair Hugin: It was hyperbolic on both sides.

David: I don't want to get bogged down in it, we will have to agree to disagree about it.

Chair Hugin: When somebody puts out the statements, look at what the most important ones are -- he said he wants to cut inflation, grow the economy, make it good for people with higher wages, lower costs, and if those other things he wants to do interferes with that, he will have to manage that different.

He's not going to do crazy things that will tank the economy or hurt people's jobs and hurt their pay increases, etc., so I think you have to put all that in context and say, what is most important?

The most important thing is peace, security, secure the border, have a good economy, cut inflation, make sure we deregulate, we have the freedom to do what we want to do, Liberty.

Let's not have government tell people what to do in your bedroom or any place in their life and let's have freedom and liberty and a good economy, and he's going to prioritize those things.

No, I don't think any candidate can deliver as an elected official 100% of what they promise, what they talk they want to do.

He's not trying to do an awful lot, but he's going to prioritize the most important things, and the working people and the men and women paying taxes are his number one priority of a higher quality, safe life, and with kids in the Marine Corps and Donald Trump's first presidency, not one American was killed in a war or battle for the first time in generations for an American president to be able to say that.

So safety, security, good economy are first and foremost.

David: I did not hear you say it, but I'm assuming you believe there are guardrails in Congress that would stop the President-elect from trying to achieve some of his darker more extreme goals, yeah?

>> I don't think we are going to need the -- David: They are there, even though you think we will not need them?

Chair Hugin: He has a political character the people portrayed as being literal.

I think he is a politically smart man who knows what he loves.

He loves the country.

He loves the American people.

He's not going to do stupid things.

He will say some things we might consider stupid, but he's not going to do stupid things.

David: I know you don't have a candidate of your own in the governors race, but your party has now for candidates in this race, but I feel like the right side of the state party in your case is feeling pretty good, no?

Chair Hugin: I think the party overall is feeling good.

You think about the votes in Passaic County, Middlesex, the towns where people say let's do the common sense thing, people who care about the quality of life, the cost of living, the things that matter to people, and really, all workers -- anybody who pays taxes should be considered very important.

I think the Republican party tent has really expanded.

It started before Donald Trump.

Some of it is because of him, but it started before Trent -- before Trump, and we have to capitalize on that.

David called it what do you think the president's appeal was to let you know voters, younger voters, black voters, even women?

Chair Hugin: The thing that strikes me is Lanny Davis, a Clinton person -- I don't know him at all -- I read an op-ed he put out yesterday, and it's exactly what I was thinking of telling Republicans.

I did not want it to be in the public domain because it is a prescription for fixing the Democratic Party because I want to let the Democratic Party do all their finger-pointing and let it go on for years.

I love that, but his prescription for the problem in the Democratic Party is really worth reading.

It talks about you cannot be scolding people and telling them, yes, boys can go to the girls room if they want.

If they want to play basketball against you, play it against you.

If you do this, we are going to school you.

We are going to tell you what to do.

Celebrities are going to tell you to do this, do that.

NJ.com has some alleged journalists that write these articles that you think they are propagandizing for one side.

Actually, it has helped the people they think they are hurting.

They are helping them because people can see through it and know that it is a bunch of nonsense and that they were doing it for political reasons.

The media is, frankly, the biggest loser of this election -- certain parts of the media, not you of course -- David: Present company excluded?

Chair Hugin: Absolutely.

You guys have always been fair and balanced, at least to me.

Some of these in the media, they are advocating for somebody but actually hurting them when they think they are helping.

David: If you were around on election night at the kane-Basho event.

By the way, Curtis Basham made a good impression on people despite being in a tough spot.

Chair Hugin: He's a good man.

The thing is all these media people have a race to see -- David: Let me stop you there because I know what you are going to say.

Let's take a quick listen to a few seconds of that and then we will come back.

>> people deserve to see the data, the facts, not to be calling races before it was even in.

I'm not saying it's the wrong call, but it is a [beep] thing you guys do.

I want to be first to call a race right, that is all.

David: First of all, language.

Chair Hugin: My wife is not happy with me, I can tell you that.

David: Second, what you have against calling a race when the polls already closed?

Chair Hugin: I'm not saying it is the wrong thing to do.

If you are a Democrat, Republican, or independent, the heroes are the people on the ballot.

They are the real heroes.

They deserve our respect.

They called the race before they saw one return.

They were just in a race to say we want to be first to call the race -- David: But they were not wrong is what I'm saying.

It was a 14-point win.

Chair Hugin: It wasn't 14, it was nine.

It was disrespectful is my point.

I don't care if you are a Democrat or Republican, you are the hero when you run, and you deserve the media to look at the results, not because of a race to make themselves look better to say AP was the first media outlet to call that race correctly.

Once we knew things were going to go a certain way, we could have called that race the right way, so that is my point.

I don't care Democrat or Republican.

I respect the people who put their names on the ballot.

I know what that is like and how difficult it is to do that.

Curtis is a decent human being and deserves our respect.

David: Tom came -- Tom Kane was terrible with the press and won election easily over Sue Altman.

Does that mean he will never take questions from the press in his capacity as a congressman?

Chair Hugin: I cannot speak for him.

He is obviously his own man.

I hope people will see the election that he did so well, really outperformed everybody and did a great job and won.

He is a great congressman.

I think over time, he will develop, and I hope the press will look at this election and say it's not a gotcha, ask questions designed for soundbites to make people look bad.

I think both sides should re-examine how they think about it and how we go about making sure the electorate and constituents are well informed in every way possible directly through the candidate and the media.

I do believe that interactive media is critical to our democracy, but they have a responsibility to do the kind of things people want to read about , not the nonsensical kind of stuff some of the stuff does.

I think both sides will mature and learn from it and be better going forward.

David: So you know where I'm coming from, I think it is our job to agitate all elected officials, if they like it or not.

We probably mostly agree on all of that.

Chair Hugin: I understand.

David: Election season has ended, but it has just begun.

Thanks for coming on.

That is "Chat Box" for this week.

Thanks also to Governor Phil Murphy for being with us.

If you like this content, feel free to share it and subscribe to the YouTube channel to see what else our journalists are up to.

For now, from all the crew here at Gateway Center, many of whom are functioning on very little sleep this week, I'm David Cruise.

Thanks for watching.

We will see you next week.

>> major funding for "Chat Box" is provided by the members of the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

♪