[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We are honored to be joined by our good friend and former Lieutenant Governor of the great state of New Jersey, Kim Guadagno, who is also the President and CEO of Mercy Center.

Check out our sister series "Lessons in Leadership" and also on "One-on-One," Kim talked with Mary Gamba and I about Mercy Center and the important work they're doing.

But Kim, I wanna talk to you for a few minutes.

First of all, thank you for joining us as always.

- Of course.

Thanks for having me, you know that.

- We're taping this right before Thanksgiving.

There's a transition period going on, new governor taking over, Mikie Sherrill, on the 20th of January.

This will be seen somewhere along those lines, but also maybe after.

What is the hardest part about getting ready to be Governor or Lieutenant Governor?

Because you were involved in the transition with Governor Christie when he was elected and you were elected back in 2013?

- 2009 and 2013.

But who's counting?

- Go ahead, the first time around.

- So it was like drinking from a fire hose, you know, the first time around, nobody expects us to win, and the first time around I remind everybody, we didn't get 50% of the vote.

So, I mean, we were prepared.

The governor had somebody in mind to be the head of the transition team who had government experience.

So you didn't wanna go too far out over your skis, but you had to be prepared.

I mean, even when I ran for governor and lost, I still had somebody sitting over somewhere.

So you knew what you were gonna say the next morning in the event, in my case, the unlikely event that you would, and so she's, I think Mikie Sherrill, Governor-elect Sherrill is drinking from a fire hose, which is what she should be doing.

You know, at the end, they were very close together.

At least that's what the polls were sharing.

It was a shellacking as they say.

But right now, I would guess that she's getting her team together, talking to as many people as possible, and talking to them about who they should have on each of the respective transition teams.

So for example, I heard during the campaign, I heard her talk about the Business Action Center.

That's something that we started in the Secretary of State's office, which I was at the time.

Maybe she wants to beef that up.

So I'd be a big fan of making sure that happened and helping businesses out by streamlining government in some way or another.

But she's got a lot of problems coming out.

- Kim, that's where I wanna go.

So here's what I keep thinking about.

So those of us involved in public media, and the state owns the New Jersey public media license, if you will, someone's gonna operate it.

There'll be a new operator on July 1st, 2026.

For those of us involved in public media, it's the highest priority, except if you're the Governor, it's not the highest priority.

So my question is, how the heck do you prioritize while you're drinking out of a fire hose, as you said?

- Everything coming at you?

- Yeah, go ahead.

Go ahead.

- Because you made promises.

You made promises, you have to, you know, she said she was going to sign an executive order doing something about electric bills.

She has to do that.

It was a very clear promise- - Why does she have to do that?

- Because it was a very clear promise, and I think she's working very hard.

I would guess that she's working.

I don't have any direct contact with the Governor-elect, but I would guess that she's working very hard to make sure that happens.

And by the time this views, hopefully it has happened in some way.

She has affordability is a huge issue.

How is she gonna address the affordability issue?

How is she gonna address what's going on in Washington right now?

Those are three big things in my mind anyway, not necessarily in that order that she's gonna have to address head-on with a group of people that are... Look, she's got a lot of smart people around her.

- She does.

- She's got access to a lot of smart people.

And I believe she's the type of leader who will pull in those people and ask them for the sake of their state to do the right thing.

And people do, at this point, they do.

They want her to be successful.

- Is it fair to say, Kim, that the art of leading a campaign and the art of leading a government dramatically different?

- Oh, night and day, apples and oranges.

Not even, you are the absolute boss in a campaign.

Like what you say goes, you're the candidate, you're it.

- As Governor or Lieutenant Governor?

- You may be the first, you know, you may be the most powerful governor in this country, but you still have to deal with the legislature.

Christie still had to deal with the other party owning the legislature because it really is a give and take.

And that's where, even if you're a Democrat, then Democrats with a Democrat legislature, even with a super majority, you're still not gonna agree on everything as Governor-elect.

She's still gonna have to sit down and, you know, make some hard decisions, make some tough appointments, make some deals- - Compromises.

- Yeah, compromises is the word, I would say better than deals.

- Hold on, Kim, let me ask you this.

You were the first woman who was Lieutenant Governor.

You were the first Lieutenant Governor.

- First Lieutenant Governor.

- Okay.

She's the first Democrat, first woman Democrat, Christie women, the first woman who was a Republican Governor.

We've had two.

Do you believe Kim, on any meaningful level that leading as Governor for a woman in that role versus a man is in any way significantly different?

- Well I do, I do.

But you have to remember Mikie Sherrill's background, and after the election, you couldn't forget that she was a helicopter pilot.

That's not the point.

She graduated from the Naval Academy.

That's where she learned how to lead men and women, you know, didn't matter what their gender was.

That was... My son graduated from the Air Force Academy.

I saw what he was when he walked in and it couldn't have been that much different than what she was when she walked in versus what she was when she walked out.

And then she had a very successful career in the Navy where she was a leader of people.

Usually they say leader of men, but a leader of men and women.

And so this is nothing new to her.

The last problem I think the Governor-elect has is her ability to lead.

I think she has much bigger problems of just leading the state and the condition that it's in now.

- Kim Guadagano, who's heading up the Mercy Center as President and CEO, but also formerly Lieutenant Governor, the first Lieutenant Governor of the great state of New Jersey.

And her insight and perspective on what it takes to make this transition from campaign to governing is one thing, what the new Governor and her administration will be facing is another in prioritizing.

And Kim, I cannot thank you enough, as always, for providing perspective, thank you.

- Thanks Steve, Thanks.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by South Jersey Industries.

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PSEG Foundation.

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Rutgers University Newark.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Englewood Health.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

And by New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Promotional support provided by NJBIZ.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- How long you been waiting?

- About a half hour.

- Brutal.

This keeps up, I'm gonna miss my pickleball game.

- I've been waiting eight years for a kidney.

What can you do?

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Over 100,000 people in the US are waiting for a life-saving transplant.

But you can do your part in an instant.

Register as an organ donor today at NJSN.org.