Tonight on NJPBS News, what does our country's affordability crisis mean for everyday Americans?

Tonight, we bypass the politics and talk directly to seniors in South Jersey who are feeling the economic pain in very real ways.

We'll show you the human toll when the price of seemingly everything just keeps going up.

And with less than a month to go until Election Day, we take a deep dive tonight into early voting and mail-in ballots and all the important dates you need to know here in Jersey.

Also, a report from Washington tonight about the state's most closely watched races that could help shape control of the U.S.

House.

And a beloved summer destination could soon be your very own.

The price is set, the place is turnkey.

In this market, what more could you ask for?

Where you can buy one of the last remaining stewards.

From Montclair State University, you're watching NJPBS News with Rob Nelson.

Good evening, everybody.

Whether it is gas or groceries, affordability has become not just the driving force of American politics right now, but also a kitchen table reality for countless families all around the country.

So many are struggling right now to make ends meet, and watching prices only continue to rise.

Tonight, we are sharing the story of one community in Ocean County, where affordability is much more than a buzzword or a campaign promise.

It's something that is literally shaping residents' lives and the decisions they have to make about where to live, how to live, and even how long to work.

NJPBS News contributor Asha McKenzie tonight puts human faces on a real and growing crisis.

Rob, the cost of just about everything is going up, from utilities to groceries to housing and everyday expenses.

And here in New Jersey, where the cost of living is among the highest in the nation, the governor just introduced a plan to bring more affordable housing to communities in need.

But for some New Jerseyans, the rising costs right now are putting the homes they already have at risk.

If I got feeling out of here right now, I'd be living in the street.

It's supposed to be their golden years.

But for those who live in Summit West, a 55 and over community in Stafford Township, they're watching their rent and other bills climb as their income barely moves an inch.

Now there's no sense of security here.

It really, really scares me.

And in this small enclave, they rent not only their homes, but the land under it.

And for those with fixed income, each increase hits harder and makes the place they call home feel less stable.

The very place that I thought would be my home for a while is now like a hotel.

Residents showed me their leases over the last two years.

Their rent prices have jumped between 20 and nearly 30 percent.

Beth's going from 1450 in 2024 to 1755 this year.

And that's even after she went to court and reached a settlement with the property owner through mediation.

I would say looking at these numbers would bring me into the livid category.

Because it feels like a bait and switch.

I feel like I was tricked.

And for Lori, a retired teacher who lives here with her son who has cerebral palsy, the math just doesn't work.

Do you feel like you're being priced out of your own community?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Because our being on Social Security, we all know our Social Security does not rise in that capacity.

That's what our rent has been.

And our energy bills, the electric bill is like absurd now.

What's happening to this small group of seniors is just a snapshot of a much bigger affordability crisis in New Jersey.

The State Department of Community Affairs says eviction is the single biggest driver of homelessness, accounting for 58 percent of the people it services each year.

The agency also saw over 115,000 eviction filings in 2025.

That is 3,000 more than 2024.

The second year when it went up $50, I thought, okay, that's understandable.

Okay.

But the next year when it went up, it went up $290 a month.

I mean, that's my electric bill.

That's our food bill.

And it's not just rent.

Electric prices jumping over 33 percent between June 2023 and June of last year.

And grocery prices in our region rising more than 3 percent over the past year.

It went up $250.

And for Ray, a cancer survivor, he can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that he still has to work doing dishes at a local restaurant just to make ends meet at his age.

It ain't fair to none of us.

We're all retired.

We should have retirement.

Enjoy what's left of the life.

Affordability was the signature campaign issue for Governor Cheryl.

And just days ago, she announced a plan to build more affordable housing in the state, doubling the target from 20, 000 to 40,000.

The governor recently on NJPBS News discussing this.

I want to increase power generation.

And I want to see that power go up.

More power will drive down costs for people.

I want to see more homes built.

Right now we know we need 350,000 homes.

But the governor's plan is a long-term solution when many need help right now.

Now we always go to the borough hall meetings and we say, we're still here and we're still getting hit up with rent increases.

Can you not help us?

I reached out to Tri-Band Properties, the owner of Summit West.

And when I asked him for comment on the rising rent costs, they told me no thank you and hung up.

But for seniors who are low income and who are struggling, there are resources here in the state.

NJSave is one of them.

And if you qualify, you can get help with anything from energy bills to property tax relief.

Rob, back to you.

Our thanks to Asha McKenzie for that report.

Well, Election Day, as we all know, November the 3rd.

But New Jersey voters do not have to wait until then to get those ballots done.

Mail-in ballots are already arriving.

And in-person early voting is set to start October 24th.

When a new commentary for the New Jersey Monitor, Editor Terrence McDonald makes a very straightforward argument.

Vote early and avoid the uncertainty and last minute problems that can come sometimes with waiting.

Well, Terrence is joining us now to talk more about this.

Thank you so much for being here.

We appreciate it.

Sure.

Thanks for having me.

And welcome back to New Jersey.

Good to be back.

Good to be back.

Listen, I mean, there's so much chatter around voting where we are in this political moment, particularly the mail-in process.

The president doesn't seem to like it, even though he does it himself.

We had an effort that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

They did not agree with the Trump White House.

So basically, things will proceed as we've known it.

Your column said, go vote, go vote, go vote early.

And it made a strong case for why it's a good option.

Just give folks the lay of the land for what you're thinking there.

I think the process around mail-in voting has been so tumultuous recently.

And the president's comments on mail-in voting have been so inconsistent that I think it's probably better off for most voters, if you're going to vote by mail, to just do it now.

If you're going to vote in person, then go early, October 24th or in the days after that, to vote in person.

I mean, obviously, you're well-versed about that Supreme Court case.

And they kind of stopped Trump in his tracks a little bit in terms of what he wanted to do.

Walk me through a little bit, though.

Had it gone the other way, that case, what could have potentially have been the problem?

In other words, what did Trump want to do that the Supreme Court stopped?

Well, one of the things that an unnamed whistleblower said was going to happen was that the U.S.

Postal Service was going to institute some new portal, right?

And it was going to scan mail-in ballots through this portal.

And what this whistleblower said could have happened is that large batches of mail-in ballots that were headed to voters might have been stopped at the U.S.

Postal Service if, say, one of them was going to a voter where the name might not have matched.

And that could have just been because, say, it's a woman voter who recently got married and so her last name changed.

But the problem there is because that one ballot was not going to be sent to that person, then all of the mail-in ballots in that batch would not have been moved on, according to this whistleblower.

And so there you have a problem of not just Democratic voters, but also Republican voters and unaffiliated voters who may not have known that their mail-in ballot, they may not have known that their mail-in ballot was just stuck at the Postal Service.

And then what are they supposed to do?

They've already requested the mail-in ballot.

It's going to be a lot harder for them to vote after having requested that mail-in ballot.

So that's why I think if you have the ballot right now and you know who you're going to vote for, just fill it out and get it out there in case there are any last-minute hiccups at the Postal Service.

Because that does, at its face, seem very odd that one ballot would then stall everybody else's who saw a bunch of other legitimate ballots.

Right.

So that would have been highly problematic.

Right.

So then you have a certain amount of days to go and vote early in person, which the polls may be empty.

If you stop in on your way to work, get it done, you're done with it.

For sure.

But then we have this issue of, okay, if I use the mail-in system, I either put it in my box or I go to one of the drop boxes.

Right.

What are your thoughts on which way, which path to take in that scenario?

Right.

So I would say right now you're probably safe sending your ballot through the Postal Service.

Okay.

But almost every single town has a drop box by their town hall, whatever the municipal building is, maybe by the library.

And if you know where that is and you've already done it before, drop it off there because that eliminates the whole problem with the Postal Service entirely.

Because that's kind of the point.

There's a middleman if you mail it.

Correct.

And it kind of depends, let's be honest, on how much you trust the Postal Service.

Right.

You know, if you have a reason to not like them or be suspicious because there's been so much chatter about mail-in votes, then you're better off going to the drop box, which seems to be really kind of putting it directly more in the hands of the counting authority than in the middleman of the Postal Service.

Is that fair?

Correct.

Right.

And one of the other issues is that the Postal Service has recently changed some rule that could end up delaying postmarks.

So if you decide on election day that you want to go fill in your mail-in ballot and you drop it off at the Postal Service, ordinarily it would get postmarked that day.

And as long as it arrives at the election board within six days, it will still be counted.

But because of this change, if it doesn't get postmarked until the next day, it's not getting counted.

So why would you even want to take that risk?

Correct.

Right.

Okay.

So how would you personally?

I don't vote by mail.

Okay.

I don't vote by mail.

So I'm going to go.

It's just nothing that I got used to.

So I'm going to go on October 24th to my early polling place and cast a vote in person.

Okay.

So you're an early voting in-person guy.

I'm an early voting in-person guy because usually it eliminates the long lines you see on election day.

There are sometimes some lines.

It usually eliminates that.

And you can also go to any early polling place in your county.

And so, you know, if you are out and about, you don't have to necessarily go to the one that's near your house.

Okay.

And from your years of covering this state and knowing this issue far better than a lot of other folks, are you getting, as the kids say, a vibe check about in terms of which way New Jersey prefers?

Are we seeing mail-in or in-person early voting go up in this state?

In other words, are people taking advantage of these options to not wait until November the 3rd?

I mean, that's a tough one because, you know, it depends.

All the data is different based on what year it is and who's on the ballot and how important voters think it is to get out and vote.

I don't think we're really going to know until early voting starts and we see sort of how long the lines are.

Fair enough.

And you have, obviously, a watchful eye on all things politics and news in New Jersey.

You try, right?

That's the job.

What is the most interesting political storyline in New Jersey as we talk today?

It's probably the race in the 7th District where Tom Kane, the incumbent, is running for a third term against Rebecca Bennett.

This is a district that has changed hands from Democrat to Republican a couple of times.

In the last few years.

And this is going to be a really tough year for Republicans.

And so he faces a really tough reelection fight.

But he's out there fighting and he's got a lot of money.

And so I wouldn't really count him out.

But this is a tough one.

I wouldn't want to be him this year.

And also now some political scuttlebutt out there about the 2nd District.

There's been a lot of attention on the 7th.

And that may be, perhaps, the incumbent Republican there may be in a little bit of trouble to the extent the Democrats are saying, this district is now on our target list.

Are there numbers to back that up or is that a little bit of wishful thinking?

I think it's probably a little bit of wishful thinking.

The thing is, we have three Republican-held districts.

Democrats really think they have a wave year on their hands.

If there's a gigantic Democratic wave, the only other House seat that could potentially flip from Republican to Democrat besides Tom Kane's district is Jeff Van Drew's district.

And so if Democrats think it's going to be a big year, that's just naturally going to be the next district where they look to.

Because I don't think Christmas district is probably going to flip.

And so, you know, we're probably going to see some attention down there in Jeff Van Drew's district.

But remember, he was a longtime Democrat.

And so my guess is he's already got a base of Democratic voters who vote for him no matter what.

And do you think it will take a long time on election night to get results in, particularly because District 7 could be a nail-biter?

Are we going to be up all night?

Yeah, we'll probably be up all night, I think.

And last question, this blue wave.

Because let's face it, polls and narratives can be wrong.

Sure, of course.

Okay, so how confident are you in this blue wave theory?

And it sounds like everyone's going that way, but we're talking about a little wave, a ripple, or a tsunami, or somewhere in the middle.

I really have no idea.

I don't like to predict those things.

Thank you so much for giving us some time.

We appreciate it.

Politics never dull.

Right.

And miles to go.

So, again, this has been Terrence McDonald, editor of the New Jersey Monitor.

Check it out.

Great source of news here in Jersey.

Again, thank you for being with us, sir.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Also, this reminder to pass along the deadline to register for New Jersey's general election is coming up in a few days.

That is October 13th.

In-person early voting runs from October 24th all the way through the 1st of November, and, of course, Election Day itself, November 3rd.

You can check your registration, find an early voting location, or a secure dropbox, and track your mail-in ballot at vote.

nj.gov.

Time now for the roundabout, our quick look at headlines from all across the state tonight.

Well, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban wants to help New Jersey tackle its soaring public employee health care costs.

And, apparently, Jersey is welcoming the assistance.

Cuban posted over the weekend on social media that he was interested in joining Governor Mikey Sherrill's new health benefits reform committee.

And then Sherrill responded, saying she's, quote, glad Cuban is interested and that her team will be in touch.

The governor's committee is tasked with finding ways to cut costs in a system covering about 690,000 people.

And in case you're wondering why Cuban might be interested in all this, it's worth pointing out that he is the founder of Cost Plus Drugs, a company that sells prescription drugs at lower prices.

We'll definitely keep an eye on that story.

Also, the battle between AI and New Jersey schools continues.

Montclair School District now looking to issue new guidelines on AI use in the classroom.

In a meeting last week, the town's board of ed introduced new policies that would heavily restrict generative AI use and screen time for K-8 grade students.

Parents would also have to give their kids consent to use AI.

Board members are set to review the new policies in a public workshop next week.

In related news, preschoolers in our state may soon get less than half an hour online a day while at school.

That's according to state officials.

In a new draft of the New Jersey Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards, the State Department of Ed changed the screen time guidelines from about an hour a day to just 15 minutes.

That after experts said the earlier draft simply gave kids too much screen time.

The State Board of Ed is set to vote on the recommendation tomorrow.

If approved, those new guidelines would start in 2028.

Well, we all know how expensive kids are.

Yeah, but just having the baby itself is getting more expensive.

Fair Health, that's a nonprofit tracking health care costs all around the country, recently found that New Jersey is the second most expensive state to give birth in.

It costs a little more than 23 grand to have a baby here.

And again, we're talking about a normal natural birth with an in-network provider.

So this is the cost of a birth with insurance coverage and without any issues or problems.

Well, Alaska, if you're wondering, is the most expensive state, followed by Jersey, then New York, and then several southern states.

As for a C-section, also in-network, that cost is nearly 28 grand here in our state.

And if rising gas prices are making you want to trade in your car for a new pair of sneakers, this next story is for you.

You might be surprised to find that some of the country's most walkable cities are right here.

According to the Travel Blog, only in your state, Hoboken takes the number one spot in the U.S.

with a score of 97, blowing other cities across the country really just out of the water.

Other local spots on the list include Union City, West New York, and Jersey City, all sitting in the top 10, making New Jersey the most walkable state in the country.

All right.

The state with the lowest score, that would be Alaska.

Also tonight, you can find just about anything on Facebook Marketplace.

We all know that.

But what about owning a slice of Jersey culture, known for its root beer, hot dogs, and old-school charm?

Give up?

Well, just for about $5,500 a month, you can have your own Stewart's Root Beer drive-in.

According to the listing, the drive-in on Route 33 in Hamilton is on sale by the owner and was just recently renovated.

In fact, the location is fully open, fully staffed, and brings in about $30,000 a month.

The total price is set at $100,000.

And keep in mind, that price is only for the business itself, not the property.

And that will do it for tonight's roundabout.

Well, there are just 28 days until Election Day.

And while Capitol Hill right now is empty, Congress officially done until November.

Ben Hulak, our Washington correspondent with NJ Spotlight, is still hard at work in the nation's capital and is joining us now.

Good to see you, Ben.

Thanks for giving us some time.

Happy to talk.

So, listen, all the buzz back here in Jersey is about District 7, this unexpectedly tight race, of course, between Kane and Bennett.

The narrative now seems to be that she's in a good position to win this thing.

Of course, you know, nothing's final until it's final.

But what is the buzz in D.C.

about this race?

And really, what are the actual polls and numbers showing here in addition to the vibes?

The political handicappers would put this in favor of the Democrats, which is pretty starkly interesting, given that Tom Kane Jr.

comes from this dynastic Republican political family in the state.

Rebecca Bennett fits this seat a little bit better than Sue Altman, who ran against Tom Kane Jr.

last cycle.

And I think the most telling data point, perhaps, is actually from the gubernatorial campaign last November.

Mikey Sherrill carried this seat by two percentage points, which isn't huge, but the economy has gotten worse since then.

There is a war that President Trump has started against Iran, and gas prices are up, diesel prices are up.

There are a lot of economic factors weighing against the incumbent Republicans.

The buzz, really, from Washington and from House Republicans is this is a must-win seat.

Speaker Mike Johnson has made an appearance with Kane.

And the majority of the next House will run through seats like this.

Suburban, well-off.

A path for Kane to win really would be him banking in large part on his name recognition and high turnout.

But this is not a presidential election year, and a lot of the Trump voters stay home in the midterms.

And at the end of the day, these individual races are fascinating.

But the big picture, of course, as we get closer to November, is control of Congress.

That's what all of this is about.

And the Republicans right now, of course, have a razor-thin majority, which is very much at risk coming up in November.

So there is the micro race here at the state level, but the big picture in D.C.

Is it palpable there in any way that even the folks in the nation's capital expect this so-called blue wave or expect Democrats to take over?

Has the bracing and posturing for that started in any way that's discernible to you as someone who's there?

Yes, I think it certainly has started.

If you'd asked me that question even three months ago, maybe over the summer, I would have said no.

It would have been a coin flip.

Now there are Republicans, incumbent Republicans, in tight races.

I'm thinking about the Midwest, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, who are calling on President Trump in particular to find a way to resolve the war against Iran.

That is really this massive macroeconomic, setting aside the geopolitics, macroeconomic factor here that is directly linked to gas prices.

The smart money, in other words, yes, is betting on House Democrats being sworn in in the majority come January.

The Senate is a whole other ball of wax.

Senate races are really expensive, and the Democrats have to flip, outright flip, four seats in states that Trump almost all won.

So we're talking Texas, Iowa, Maine, he did not win, but that's a tough out to defeat incumbent Susan Collins, who's been a Republican from that state for generations.

It's a tough road, but that even still, Democrats are talking.

I just had coffee with an Andy Kim staffer last week, and they were much more bullish on their odds of taking back the Senate and having united, unified Democratic Congress come January.

That's harder, though, than the House.

And real quick, District 2 now in Jersey making a little bit of news.

Democrats apparently have put Van Drew's district on the target list.

You know, is that based on any real polling, real numbers, or some wishful thinking?

Because he seems like he's pretty safe.

I talk with Mr.

Van Drew a lot, and I remember before the House went on recess, I asked him, you know, to what extent do you think you're really at risk?

And how much could the economy be a factor?

And he said, you know, I'd be foolish to think that I couldn't lose and that the economy couldn't drag me down.

But this is an incumbent in Van Drew who is a very good retail politician.

He knows his district well.

He really focuses on a lot of local and regional issues to South Jersey.

And let's not forget, he was a Democrat who ran for the House back in 2018, won, and then famously switched parties in 2020 in Donald Trump's first term to the Republicans, and then won two more times.

So he is sort of a political brand to himself.

This is going to be reach for the Democrats.

A political brand to himself.

That's a nice title.

Heading into midterm season.

I like that.

Ben, one final question here.

In terms of federal aid, we got some more information today about the state of play after that Nor'easter a few days ago.

Considerable level of damage here that we're contending with.

When I interviewed Governor Cheryl a few days ago, she was noncommittal about whether she's going to ask for, once again, federal recovery dollars, because there was a lot of political drama when she did the same thing after the blizzard in February.

Basically, the Trump White House was like, no, pay the bill yourself, and we don't know exactly how it's going to play out now that we need more money after the Nor'easter.

What is the state of play in that regard?

Because quite frankly, after a storm of this magnitude, we do need the help, but the politics here are certainly tricky.

The president has done this in this term.

He certainly did this in the first term, withheld aid to states that didn't vote for him, states he didn't like.

He withheld aid pretty famously from California several years ago, many years ago, after it had suffered some intense wildfires.

New Jersey has already been turned down twice in this year during the Cheryl administration.

Once, over one storm, over a big winter storm back in February, they applied for money.

The Trump administration said no.

They appealed that rejection.

The Trump administration said no again.

So to an extent, this is Trump targeting blue states.

And this is also sort of the quirk of how disaster aid works.

It is up to the president and Congress, if it wanted, could change that, could write a new law.

But they're out.

If you look behind me, there is nobody here.

They're out campaigning.

And in the meantime, New Jersey is likely not going to get this money anytime soon.

And that is where we are.

All right.

Many thanks to our Washington correspondent with NJ Spotlight, Ben Hulak.

Always good to talk to you, sir.

Always learn a lot.

Appreciate you and your work.

Thanks for giving us some time.

Thanks, Rob.

And that will do it for tonight.

Thanks so much for watching NJPBS News.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow night.

Have a good night, Jersey.

Bye.