>> Major funding for NJ Spotlight news is provided by NJM Insurance group and the PSEG foundation.

Briana: Tonight, multiple wild fires are burning in south jersey fueled by a lack of rain forcing parts of five counties to be put under an extreme drought morning.

Plus, did an unconscious bias toward Kamala Harris play a part in Donald's victory?

>> The reach search has shown voters have a conscious or subconscious bias when it comes to the opportunity to either vote for or elect a woman candidate.

Briana: Or was it a surge in the Hispanic vote that put Trump over the top?

>> These are voters the Democrat party has taken for granted not only in New Jersey but in the entire country for so many years.

Briana: In the work, a free open closet for students who simply need a clean uniform.

>> At the end of the day, we want to make sure the students are proud of themselves and confident and they have all the tools they can to be successful.

Briana: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ >> From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening and thank you for joining us on this Thursday night.

I am Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with top headlines.

First, multiple wildfires are regent in the southern half of the state.

The New Jersey fire services on the site near Evesham and Borghese townships where authorities say roughly 200 acres have burned and none of it is contained yet.

12 structures have been evacuated out of a total of 100 four threatened.

There are multiple road cruisers -- closures and crews are warning the public to keep away from the area.

In Ocean County, the shotgun wildfire in Jackson Township has grown to 300 acres with just 40% contained.

The causes of the fires are under investigation.

The lack of rain and warmer than normal temperatures have fueled the historic wildfire risk in New Jersey this season.

In fact, the drought situation were sent today with extreme drought now marked in parts of five counties.

Also tonight, it wasn't just candidates on the ballot to strip.

Voters had to decide on a litany of other proposals.

In Hoboken, voters shot down an ordinance that would have changed rent-controlled fittings -- rules, voting the measure down by three to one.

The referendum would have allowed new landlords to raise rents by any amount once the unit becomes vacant, rather than the current cap of 25%, so long as the landlords contributed $2500 to the city's affordable housing trust fund.

It's not over though, landlords are planning to take the issue to court.

In Atlantic City, voters gave the green lay on expanding the so-called Green Zone where cannabis licensing is permitted.

It will include parts of Kentucky and Albany Avenue's wish but up against residential areas.

A handful of towns voted on whether to privatize water.

Utilities residence in South Orange approved the sale of their debt renew utilities will pop -- which proponents they will offer tax release but at the risk of higher water rates over the.

Long run I was not the case in Gloucester County.

Voters rejected a bid by New Jersey American water to buy their municipal sewer system for $143 million.

And President Joe Biden today addressed the nation from the White House for the first time since Donald Trump's decisive victory, telling Americans to "accept the choice the country made."

This comes exactly four years to the day he was declared the winner of the 2020 election.

Biden said he's worked -- will work with Trump's team for a peaceful transition of power and stressed the integrity of the election, but the president also praised his vice president for what running an inspiring campaign and complementing her character throughout.

Biden took advantage of the moment to defend some of his administration's actions, arguing he's leading behind the strongest economy in the world with trillions of dollars worth of infrastructure work particularly in rural communities.

He urged Americans to embrace unity and bring the temperature down.

>> Love your country only when you win.

You can't love your neighbor only when you agree.

Setbacks are unavoidable.

But giving up is unforgivable.

Briana: Analysts are starting to dissect what went right and what went wrong in the outcome of Tuesday's election.

The result was brutal for vice president, Harris and a bloodbath for Democrats across the country.

Even here in what was a reliably blue New Jersey, Republicans made inroads with key voting blocs.

Aside from the economy and being tied to Joe Biden's presidency, political experts say Harris's race and gender may have played a role in her defeat, and unconscious race bias even when voters don't believe it was a factor.

I'm joined by Hyacinth Miller, an expert on black women in politics at Rutgers.

Good to talk to you.

Aside from the coalitions of Democrats that the party has relied on for decades falling through, yourself and others are looking at other factors that may have been at play with Kamala Harris' defeat.

What might that be when it comes to something like unconscious bias?

Hyacinth: Thank you for that question.

I think it is really important for us to discuss it.

The research has shown that voters tend to have either a conscious or subconscious bias when it comes to the opportunity to either vote for or elect a woman candidate.

Some of those biases can include not thinking that being in office is a woman's place and that it is more of a masculine domain better suited to men.

Another set of biases can be cultural or religious, a woman's place is in the home or a woman should not be in a place where there are issues to be contested .

Another bias can be for the fact that she doesn't have children and we are socially geared -- women are socially geared toward having children, so her not having children and being her agent may make her appear untrustworthy.

Briana: You just named a couple, like the childless cat lady remark I'm thinking about, her being called a DEI higher.

What are the other examples that played out on the campaign trail that may be the public did not pick up on but is an example of unconscious bias or conscious bias?

Hyacinth: The fact that many things about the vice president were questions.

There were news reports questioning her race, that was a colossal waste of time, it should not have happened.

She has already established herself to be a black woman and an Asian woman and that should have been the end of the discussion.

With respect to Trump, there was no question about whether or not he was a white man.

Another constant refrain in the news was her laugh.

She was a crazy woman because her laugh.

The fact that she exhibited happiness was a turnoff to some people.

Briana: You spoke to voters who may be in the past voted Democrat and this time voted for Trump and they say it was the economy, it was immigration, not about her being a woman.

How do you counter that when you are looking into these finer points?

Hyacinth: I counter that by saying that inflation has gone down.

I counter that by saying illegal border crossings or undocumented border crossings have gone down.

If the issue is undocumented immigrants, that doesn't necessarily hold water given the facts.

If the issue is the economy, that doesn't necessarily hold.

Gas prices have gone down and inflation has gone down.

Grocery prices are still high.

She did make a pledge to counteract price gouging, so if the economy was really the issue -- and I don't doubt that it was an issue for many Americans, but I don't think that was the only issue.

There was something else happening.

Briana: Folks have been looking at obviously exit polls, demographics.

Black women still made up the backbone of the vote for Harris, but the inroads were made for her Latino and Hispanic voters, black men, young voters.

How do you balance that if it is partially that voters also were not ready for a woman or a woman of color?

Hyacinth: As a researcher, I would like to unpack some of that data more because in the U.S., we tend to rely on these pan-ethnic categories.

Trump increased the numbers of Latino voters that he got, but who are these let voters?

Are they Puerto Ricans, Cubans, from El Salvador or Mexico?

Each group behaves differently.

Are these newly arrived immigrants or immigrant boring people who have been here for 20 or 30 years?

Each of these groups has different perspectives on who they want to support and why so we really need to get into that data.

Briana: As we know, no group is a monolith.

Hyacinth Miller, thank you so much for your perspective.

In the end, vice president Kamala Harris did win New Jersey but the margin between Harris and Donald smaller than expected , just five points.

One of the many factors that explain the shrinking gap points to the surge in Hispanic men voting for Trump this year.

Nearly half, 40 7% went for Trump.

One of the best examples can be found here in Hudson, Bergen and Passaic County's which are heavily Latino.

Trump flipped or was winning in those locations at last count.

That is for the first time though in all three of his presidential bids.

Raven Santana takes a deeper look at why.

>> I think it was a real wake-up call for Democrats state and nationwide.

Obviously in New Jersey we are heading into a gubernatorial so this leaves a lot of big questions and sends big signs to both parties in terms of how they will set up in a year.

7 Kamala Harris may have won here in New Jersey but director of the Eagleton Center for Public interest polling says it was not by much.

>> We saw a large swaths of voters going for Republicans on the ballot particularly when it came to Trump and we have about a five point margin between Harris and away different than what New Jersey has looked like in the last several decades.

I think about less than half of what Biden won by in 2020.

This points to the national trends we have seen Rick Republicans doing very well and Trump doing well across the country on election night, so much so that New Jersey looked more like a swing state.

Reporter: TheReporter: Garden State which traditionally liens Blues Psaki -- Key clip counties flip from Googling to read.

She said that was primarily due to Latino male voters.

>> We see some of the top Latino counties like Passaic flip for Trump.

We see that other counties that are heavily Hispanic and Latino communities, Trump's numbers rose even if Harris won them.

This seems to be correlating with a lot of national patterns we see when it comes to Latino voters, specifically male voters.

Reporter: That shift is being considered a victory for Latinos assess the Hudson County Republican chair.

>> The Hispanic community is about stability, economics and choices in education.

When we start to talk about all the other things that don't have nothing to do with everyday issues that you have as a Hispanic, they lost touch, they lost communication and Donald Trump maybe was vulgar sometimes the weight he expressed himself, but he was talking about the issues that everybody cares.

Reporter: His sent 10 -- sentiments are shared by Kenneth Gonzalez from the New Jersey Republican Party.

He says he believes Latinos felt abandoned by the Democratic Party.

>> The Republican party's message was stronger than ever this year and that's because working-class voters abandoned the Democratic Party because they realized the Democrat party abandoned them.

With the Hispanic population and the black population, it was the same thing.

These are voters but Democratic Party has taken for granted not only in New Jersey but in the entire country for so many years.

The Hispanic vote isn't even pulled many times because it is considered to be reliably Democrat and now everyone is realizing they will have to rethink that because the Hispanic community is not buying what the Democrats are selling anymore.

>> Still, Patricia Campos Medina says there is some hope as Latinos have not jumped ship yet.

>> Latino men, Trump was able to sell them a message on the economy that appealed to them.

Latina women did stay with Kamala Harris because we identify more with issues about reproductive freedoms and opportunities for children.

Reporter: Campos Medina is on a mission to make sure New Jersey does not make a similar shift.

She says reflection is key as Democrats reflect for the governor's race.

>> If we don't respond to the needs for economic policy package and investment in businesses an opportunity to grow.

Reporter: If there's one thing everyone agreed on, something needs to change and no group of voters should ever be taken for granted.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

Briana: Now that the general is over, lawmakers are sitting there focus on the states ballot design which became a key issue during the primaries.

A special assembly committee held the second meeting on the topic this.

As Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan, there are concerns over when the end it -- whether any new designs being proposed are fair.

>> This conversation on ballot design comes at a crucial time when many voters feels uncertain about the future of the democracy.

Reporter: Folks still reeling from Tuesday's election got in a virtual line to testify before a special assembly committee to design a better ballot for New Jersey.

But some speakers, mostly from good government advocacy groups, criticize both the format and the timing.

>> Giving inadequate notice for both hearings so far and holding the first hearing with public participation less than two days out of one of the most consequential elections of our times is undemocratic and does not inspire confidence.

Reporter: People are touchy.

It took a grassroots movement to deep six the New Jersey County line ballot.

A federal judge agreed the system is unfair because it empowers party bosses to give favored candidates original ballot position.

Andy Kim is now New Jersey Senator elect.

>> Young people are not dumb.

They have concerns that party bosses and outside business interests have an outsized effect on really important parts of our democracy like ballot design.

>> A FARA ballot design should protect voters choice, not the choice of politically connected insiders and party bosses.

Reporter: New Jersey Democrats used office to drop the primary and lists candidate under the office they seek, but should redesign ballots include a slogan?

Can a Slate group together?

Should incumbents be identified?

Who gets preferred top spot on the list?

Advocates sometimes disagreed on details.

>> We want to be clear that the starting point for the fairness of ballot design has to really be about ensuring that there is no extra weight on the scale one way or the other that the ballot points to, to give an advantage to one candidate over any other.

>> Anything that is not a clean ballot in terms of just a list of candidates in an office block style with nothing differentiating them is not ideal.

Anything that puts a thumb on the scale is not a fair ballot.

Reporter: Lawmakers question whether voters will be able to figure out a new ballot design particularly in neighborhoods where English is a second language.

But -- >> To use the fear of confusion to hold us back on making this change is a little disingenuous.

We have changed.

Confusion is not a reason not to have a fair ballot.

Reporter: The select committee scheduled the next hearing for Tuesday in Trenton and promised to hold an evening hearing so more jerseys residents can make their voices heard.

County clerks say they need a new ballot template by next March to hit election deadlines.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: As we say in New Jersey, when one campaign season ends, the next election cycle begins and so it goes for the race to be the next governor of the Garden State.

This week, one candidate, Sean Spiller, head of the -- the head of the largest state teachers union, got the chance to get his message out to 200,000 members at the NJEA annual convention in Atlantic City.

Some are questioning the union's involvement and spending for his campaign.

Reporter: For anyone who hasn't had enough politics this week, the NJEA convention in Atlantic City was also a campaign stop for Sean Spiller.

The union president is running for governor next year with support for many people in his union.

>> The main thing that caught my eye with Spiller is because he's for education and anybody for kids are for me.

>> He continues to advocate for us and care about people and the students which is something I have observed him doing in the questions he asks and he would make a very good governor.

Reporter: Spiller will run against former -- fellow Democrats including Ras Baraka and Steve Pulliam.

He says his unique background is uniquely qualifying.

>> My lived experience I think is closer to most New Jerseyans than anyone who served easily and those running now.

I say that as someone with two young kids.

Seeing that $20,000 cost for early education plus the $10,000 for early care and aftercare.

Reporter: Spiller is a member of the NJPBS community advisory board.

The NJEA gave nearly $11 million to its own political action committee which in turn gave $7.5 million to a dark money working group called working New Jersey.

They are not technically affiliated with Spiller but sent mailers on his behalf.

>> I say the vast majority of them have no idea.

We have very active Facebook pages.

I get teachers coming on all the time and I'm constantly told that.

I'm wrong.

Reporter: Mike Lilley leads the sunlight center of New Jersey which investigated that the unions gave to Spiller's pack.

He's concerned that educators don't know union dues are helping to get Spiller to the governor's mansion.

>> To kind force them to fund Spiller's personal political career without their knowledge and consent, that strikes me as a big problem.

Reporter: Spiller downplayed this thing the NJEA frequently donates to candidates at all levels of local government.

They >> Are also >> saying I will take time to find pro-public education candidates so they can help me do my job better to serve students.

We've always been in that space and we are part of a big reason why as a team we have the best schools in the nation.

Reporter: Lilly says there are no campaign finance laws being broken but wonders why the NJEA is finding someone under active investigation by the state for allegedly misusing state health benefits.

>> Is this your teachers would choose to support?

Is this the kind of candidate where they would say I want my money spent there?

I have a feeling that NJEA doesn't want them asking themselves that question which is why they hired this.

-- hide this.

Reporter: Most people I spoke with did not have a problem.

Some who did not disagree would not speak on camera.

>> We do it for other candidates, why don't we do it for him?

>> It's good for us to put him into a position for a person we know well and we think is going to do good things for this state.

>> It's interesting to think about in that light because then you never know who they are going to endorse but usually, I think because we are a union, we are a family.

I think they really do have our best interest at heart.

>> We support collectively being able to raise our voices and collectively being able to pool our dollars to compete with millionaires and billionaires we have seen in so many spaces.

Reporter: NJEA is an underwriter for NJ Spotlight News.

Working New Jersey has pledged to spend $35 million in the race without specifying which candidate, almost ensuring the most expensive gubernatorial primary in state history.

In Atlantic City, Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

Briana: In New York, the belief that clean clothes lead to a sharper mind.

The state's largest public school district opened what is calling the Chancellor's closet, essentially a laundry room complete with a washer Dryer and personal hygiene products to help students keep uniforms cleaned which can be a barrier for kids in the city, leading to missed classes and lower attendance.

One school official says they found many students skipping school or arriving late simply because they did not have the right clothing or the uniforms were not clean.

School leaders can also say it hinders the ability to focus on learning and self-esteem.

The Chancellor's closet is free and will be open to students during school hours offering green uniforms to wear while there is are being watched.

The hope is to create an environment where students can thrive and maintain their pride.

>> You are sending the students in the school a strong message as well as a rippling effect across all schools, that it is OK to want to become better.

That it's OK for someone else to want to help you to become better, but that it is more important for the children of the school to understand that the North Jersey chapter will become better because of the children at Chancellor Avenue school.

That will Briana: Briana: Do it for us tonight but check out reporters roundtable with David Cruise tomorrow.

He talks to Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University polling Institute about how voters voted and why.

A panel of local journalist talking all the political headlines.

That is tomorrow at noon on the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team at NJ Spotlight News, thank you for being with us.

Have a great night.

See you tomorrow.

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♪