Democrats running to be the next governor of New Jersey squared off in their first primary debate Sunday night at Ryder University among the Hot Topics New Jersey Transit immigration president Trump's policies and of course making the state more affordable senior correspondent Joanna gagas has a recap of the night where a crowded field of contenders fought to leave a lasting impression for the first time last night a debate between all six of New Jersey's Democratic candidates for Governor in 25 among their titles an iron worker two teachers three Mayors two military veterans two Congressional Representatives one woman and two men of color it's a mixed bag of candidates more diverse than we've seen in the past they started with a referendum on Governor Murphy c c B+ C minus as a teacher you know you don't judge person by one grade alone but I'll say this uh C+ maybe b b b in a Ary debate you get about as much diversity of opinion as that score chart but clearly these candidates all took a page out of the presidential election loss each one made affordability their top priority as Governor I'm running a campaign to change New Jersey and to reform it I'm proud we did pay Family Leave very proud of that I'm proud that we did minimum wage all of the costs have to be reduced right that's the only way you're going to reduce people taxes is by reducing the cost we have got to build houses in the state we are not going to make New Jersey more affordable if we don't make housing more affordable they found opportunities to point out differences where they could we got the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed I helped write that and pass it it's now building the Gateway train tunnel and fixing our roads and bridges with all due respect expecting more Federal money from this Administration is a pipe dream when they're trying to clear it back we got to fix our own problem right cuz Washington is not going to help us they mostly agreed the state's school funding formula needs to be updated and said yes they would commit to fully fund the state's pension system but their alignment split over immigration and whether their role as governor should include protecting undocumented residents we should protect every should protect people in New Jersey especially with the Constitution and we desperately need comprehensive immigration reform there are people on this stage that have been reluctant to support or say that they support immigration um I've been Unapologetic in support of the Immigrant trust act and I think my track record in Jersey City is second to none we all should stand and be and OS what Donald Trump's doing he's breaking the law he's doing it illegally he's doing it without legal search warrants he's he's it's it's horrible what he's doing but I also believe someone that's a criminal comes in this country and someone that breaks the law in this country shouldn't be in this country it's a privilege you have President Trump ordering his people to literally go into schools that was said to go into uh restaurants as we saw like and L to churches and literally take innocent undocumented people and round them up so Congress I do you the immigration trust act what I would ask I I I would say we have to be honest up here number one uh you can't say you support immigrants uh in New Jersey but vote for the lak and Riley act you can't do that gimer voted in support of the lak and Riley act signed into law last week that permits Detention of immigrants charged with or convicted of a crime the lake and Riley act also served to undermine the authority of the Attorney General here in New Jersey it is a very very dangerous piece of legislation as it relates to autonomy of the governor and the Attorney General here if you are a murderer a criminal a rapist if you're breaking into people's homes in the middle of the night with a gun while the kids are sleeping and you're undocumented you shouldn't be here many called for more transparency in the budgeting system promised to restore Oprah and campaign Finance laws at one point New York mayor Raz Baraka called out njaa president Sean Spiller for using njaa superpac funds to fuel his campaign you can't not raise your own money and then have a $35 million piggy bank I heard the mayor just note this I heard him say it like allude to it at least a couple times here I as a former as a former educator I didn't allude to it yeah you know and as a as an educator former educator I think you'd know this right I'm really proud about the fact that we've got Educators in this state hardworking folks who've come together voluntarily joining the union saying Hey listen we all know who's in those back rooms making the decisions and we know it's not us that's why we want our voices out there and having our our issues front and center is by making sure we engage in the process we0 and everything at at time I don't want to get rid of the king and make another king but if any of these contestants earns the throne they'll be the next Governor to take on NJ Transit a legacy they could leave with much like their predecessor for NJ Spotlight news I'm Joanna gagas