(upbeat music) - From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Hello and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis in for Brianna Vannozzi.

Tonight a few stories we'll get into later in the broadcast.

In the final weeks of the gubernatorial race, we'll tell you why a potential endorsement from a powerful group may give Republican Jack Cittarelli an edge over Democrat Mikey Sherrill come election day, but why comments by a campaign advisor are causing controversy.

And a vital hospital in Newark gets a major upgrade.

We'll bring you the latest.

And later, voting has begun in New Jersey's gubernatorial race.

We'll give you an update in the latest on the mail-in voting numbers and when you can vote in person.

But first, a few headlines.

Some tragic news at the site of a Gateway Tunnel project in New York today.

A worker at the Hudson Yards concrete casing suffered a fatal injury.

The Gateway Development Commission released a statement saying work at the site will be suspended while an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

But the larger future of the Gateway Project has New Jersey lawmakers speaking out, responding to President Trump's comments earlier this week where he doubled down on his promise to terminate funding for the Gateway Project, a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey.

Asked about it on Air Force One, the President said, "Right now there is no funding because it's up to me."

In fact, those funds were actually appropriated by Congress through bipartisan infrastructure legislation, and the work began about a year ago.

And according to labor leaders, work on the project has continued, but has only a little more than a month before the funds run out.

Today, Congressman Josh Gottheimer joined with state and local leaders calling the president's announcement a "sledgehammer" to both labor jobs and the commuters of New Jersey.

He's asking NJ Transit and Amtrak to outline what the impact would be if the project were to be shut down.

All of New Jersey's Democratic House members, along with U.S.

Senator Andy Kim, sent a letter to the president and to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demanding that they publicly retract the administration's announcement to terminate the funding and to release any money that's been withheld.

The tunnel has become a flashpoint in the race for governor as well, with Chittarelli saying the president is using it as a tool to negotiate during the government shutdown, Sherrill saying it's a devastating move for New Jersey that'll hurt working people in the state.

And can the state's finances withstand a natural disaster?

A new report released this week by Pew Charitable Trusts puts New Jersey among the state's most at risk.

And it all has to do with how much the state has in its reserves.

Now just a year ago New Jersey's reserves were among the highest they've ever been at 10 billion dollars.

But this year the reserve shrunk to six point seven billion dollars.

Now that's still a significant number but not when you compare it to the state's total budget of fifty eight point eight billion dollars while that ends up being just about ten percent in reserves and that could be a problem as the Pew researchers point out if President Trump succeeds in shifting most disaster relief away from the federal government and onto the states now according to the administration it would still help with the worst storms but that move would leave New Jersey with less money in reserves than it received in federal support after superstorm Sandy and that could leave critical programs at risk if the state has to tap into its general fund to pay for those emergency relief programs.

State lawmakers haven't agreed on a bill to create a disaster relief program, but this will be an issue that the next governor will have to deal with.

Also an update on a story we've been covering.

That 175-year-old farm in Cranberry that was supposed to be bulldozed by the township and turned into affordable housing finally got some good news.

The farm will be saved.

After months of public pleading to spare their farm, the owners, the Henry family, sued Cranberry.

They challenged the township's assessment that their property was the only location for the town to build a 265-unit housing complex in order to fulfill their fourth-round affordable housing obligation to meet the state mandates.

Today, Governor Murphy made the announcement that an agreement has been reached between all the parties involved, the Township, the Henry family, and the Fair Share Housing Center.

And Cranberry officials will now look to other locations within the town to meet their fourth-round obligations, and the Henrys will continue their legacy as farm owners for nearly 200 years.

Coming up, we'll get you the latest on the major endorsements, controversies, and voting numbers in New Jersey's high-stakes gubernatorial race.

That's next.

Major funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided in part by NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years; Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; and by the PSCG Foundation.

As the clock ticks down to Election Day, the candidates are fighting for every vote they can get, often looking for the endorsement of large groups.

And Republican candidate Jack Cittarelli may have just landed himself a major voting block in Ocean County, the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood.

But that's not the whole story.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan is here with us to talk about some new developments in an increasingly volatile governor's race.

Brenda, great to see you.

What can you tell us?

Hey, Joanna.

So, yes, we have got both a controversy and potentially a huge endorsement to talk about here.

Folks doing pre-election math are pointing to the expected endorsement of Republican Jack Cittarelli by the Lakewood VOD, a powerful group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders.

First reported by the local Lakewood scoop, that endorsement could really make it rain votes for Cittarelli, cast by a community that's pro-Trump and deeply conservative.

Writers Micah Rasmussen says it could mean a significant vote margin for Cittarelli there over his opponent, Democrat Mikey Sherrill.

MICAH RASMUSSEN, Writer, "The New York Times": He could be looking at 18,000 to 2,000 for Sherrill.

Why do we say that kind of a lopsided margin?

Because when we look at other races, legislative races, congressional races, presidential races, it's not unusual for the Republican candidate, when the Republican candidate gets that endorsement, to get 80 or 90 percent of the vote coming out of Lakewood.

Now in the last race for governor, Cittarelli lost by some 83,000 votes statewide.

But he won Lakewood by maybe 5,000 votes, even though the VAD that year had endorsed Democrat Phil Murphy.

And the Orthodox Haredi voting population is only growing larger.

Here's the thing.

The Vannozzi endorsement is not just, it doesn't just carry weight in Lakewood, it carries weight in Jackson, in Tom's River, in Howell, because Lakewood is not just Lakewood anymore.

The growth has been so explosive in Lakewood that there are little Lakewoods or excerpts of Lakewood that surround Lakewood.

In these surrounding communities, the conservative Hasidic voters who live outside of Lakewood proper, but they live just on the other side of the border in Tom's River and Jackson or in Howell, they carry -- that endorsement is influential among that part of the community as well.

Chittarelli is familiar in Lakewood.

This is his third run for governor.

Sheryl reportedly made her first campaign appearance there just yesterday, according to The Scoop.

The endorsements anticipated this week sometime, and the campaigns aren't commenting for now.

But the backlash continues over controversial remarks made by a Chittarelli adviser that sparked charges of anti-Semitism and homophobia.

Chittarelli's executive director for Muslim Relations, Dr.

Ibrar Nadeem, spoke during a campaign event designed to reach Muslim voters.

He touted Chittarelli as the candidate who'd champion their conservative values and oppose same-sex marriage.

here to do it again.

Nadeem said Chittarelli would give their community a "seat in the room where decisions are made."

And he ignited a firestorm when he complained he's weary of hearing accusations from people in his community that they personally -- that he personally takes money from Jews.

MANNOZZI, Chittarelli Resident (through translator): Every time I got hired, people from my community, when I was blamed that somebody said, you are taking money from Jews, I said, I checked it.

I said, who the hell did you do that?

It is not fair.

These words are disgusting and vile.

They are blatantly anti-Semitic.

They are homophobic.

And they have no place in a campaign for governor or anywhere in our great state.

Jack Cittarelli took the stage right after those remarks.

And instead of condemning them, he praised the speaker.

He called him part of his inner circle.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The angry backlash from across the aisle included Congressman Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat who's been endorsed by the VOD before.

New Jersey's Democratic State Committee organized a virtual lineup of rebuttals.

They were angry over what Cittarelli didn't say.

- Minister Cittarelli had the chance to respond to these offensive remarks, both in real time at the rally or immediately thereafter.

He could have condemned the comments, made clear that the rhetoric of exclusion and hate has no place in his campaign or in our state, but he won't roll back rights.

Instead, he chose not to.

- Now, Cittarelli promised the Muslim crowd that their voice would be heard in his administration and that their community of 300,000 has the ability to quote "tip the balance of the outcomes of elections."

And he did address Nadim's comment in real time, but he shrugged it off as a joke.

- Dr.

Ibrahim Nadim, just once I wish you would say what's exactly on your mind.

Let's hear it one more time for the doctor.

Now, Cheryl called on Cittarelli to fire Nadim and posted on X, "Jack for New Jersey's Inner Circle wants to ban same-sex marriage.

What comes next?"

Cittarelli replied, "Do you ever get tired of lying?

You know I support same-sex marriage.

You also know the full clip of Dr.

Nadeem's remarks are clear.

He was talking about the grief he gets from some because of my unwavering support for the Jewish community and Israel and his own efforts to build bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim communities."

His campaign strategist, Chris Russell, added, quote, "Our overwhelming support in the Jewish community speaks volumes."

But Micah Rasmussen points out a strategic error by the Cittarelli campaign.

MICAH RASMUSSEN, Campaign Strategist, The Cittarelli Campaign: We know he's making a big play in Passaic County.

Absolutely, he is.

He's doing his best.

And that's smart heads-up politics.

But you can't -- you don't get credit for stepping in it while you are trying to appeal to a group that maybe hasn't felt connected in the past.

That's smart.

That's great, but don't offend another group in the process.

I think this ethnic event was an unmitigated disaster, an unforced error for Cinerelli.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, as Rasmussen explained, the larger Jewish voting bloc in New Jersey, like across the country, is pretty democratic.

of course, the political landscape is also a minefield right now with what's going on in Israel and in Gaza.

so, joanna, it's very complicated.

it sure is, brenda.

thank you for breaking that all down.

i have to ask you, you know, when we go back to the same-sex marriage issue, obviously some conflicting reports there.

what is chitarelli's stance on same-sex marriage?

the bottom line on chitarelli's stance is that he voted, he did vote against a bill legalizing gay marriage.

then governor christie vetoed the measure.

but the u.s.

supreme court declared same-sex marriage legal three years later.

and chitarelli subsequently changed his position.

he now says that he supports it, joanna.

And just looking more broadly at the Jewish community, the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood, obviously as with any religious or ethnic group, it's not a monolith.

No.

But does the community, the ultra Orthodox community in Lakewood tend to follow the endorsements of the VOD?

Well, often they do.

I mean, the VOD endorsed and they elected Avi Schnall to the assembly in the 30th district when he ran on the Democratic ticket because they wanted a voice in the majority party in Trenton.

But Schnall's also a rabbi in the community.

So that was a factor as well, Joanna.

Wonderful reporting, Brenda.

We'll be following this issue.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

And while the long-awaited redevelopment of University Hospital in Newark is finally underway, state and local officials, including Governor Murphy, were on site today for the groundbreaking of the project that will invest nearly $2 billion into the hospital.

University Hospital was built 45 years ago and has more than doubled the number of patients it's served since then, but its infrastructure hasn't kept pace with demand.

It's worth noting that it's the only state-run hospital in New Jersey and the only level one trauma center in northern New Jersey.

Raven Santana was at the groundbreaking to hear how the renovations will improve health care for residents in and around New Jersey's largest city.

For nearly 50 years, University Hospital has been a lifeline for Newark, a place where trauma victims, mothers, and families in crisis find care.

But the public hospital's aging infrastructure has long struggled to meet the city's growing needs.

People talked about the promises that have been made to the city of Newark and those promises finally being kept.

We are investing in health care like we've never seen before in the city and I can't wait to see that future.

Caitlin Bastin, the hospital's interim president and CEO, joins Governor Phil Murphy, Newark Mayor Raz Baraka and Rutgers leadership to mark what they call a once-in-a-generation investment, rebuilding the 45 year old campus from the ground up in partnership with Rutgers.

The hospital serves as the hub for Rutgers University's health care programs.

The 1.8 billion dollar modernization plan will replace outdated buildings with new administrative and clinical facilities, an expanded trauma and surgical wing, and state-of-the-art classrooms for Rutgers Health students.

Phase one is actually both of those buildings, but the first building going up is that administrative building and that administrative building has a small amount of clinical space and is shared with Rutgers and University Hospital.

It is what's replacing those temporary buildings that came down.

And then right after that, the medical office building goes up.

And so that is a big replacement medical office building that really will highlight the future of health care.

It's the latest in a series of upgrades.

Just last month, the hospital unveiled a $20 million emergency department designed to handle more than double its original capacity built in the 1970s for 50,000 patients a year, now serving over 100,000.

Racing for flooding in the hallways with a rubberized system into a garbage can because it is crippling on itself.

But not everyone is celebrating.

Some Rutgers faculty say the investment is long overdue and must go further.

The University Hospital itself has had, I believe it's, you know, five CEOs over the last eight years.

How are you going to have a vision if you're changing, you know, the captain of the ship every, you know, year or two.

Diomedes Sotouris is executive director of the Rutgers Union that represents medical and other clinical faculty.

He says Rutgers' partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health System, an underwriter of NJ Spotlight News, has strengthened health care statewide but also deepened disparities.

Rutgers has a, you know, a major relationship with the Robert Wood Johnson However, sort of one of t is on your big 14 hospita hospital or kind of, you very important to the com event, a small group of p arguing that the first st benefits Rutgers more tha itself.

They told the com the money for the constru We now find that they're complex for Rutgers.

Make co opting everything that resources.

They're being they're being diverted to a position, putting it in position in terms of cont In response to the criticism, city and state leaders say the redevelopment unfolding in phases over several years will transform the campus into a modern medical hub that will benefit the community and secure the hospital's mission for generations to come.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Raven Santana.

There are less than two weeks to go until Election Day here in New Jersey, but some voters have already cast their ballots using the mail-in option, and countless more are preparing to head to the polls this weekend when early in-person voting starts.

Those mail-in ballots are already being counted, and they could shed some light on who's turning out so far in this tight and heated race for governor.

Senior writer and projects editor Colleen O'Day is here to help break down some of those numbers.

Colleen, so great to have you in the studio.

What can you tell us right now just in terms of who is showing up.

How many voters are we seeing use this mail-in option.

So as of the end of day yesterday there were four hundred and twenty four thousand roughly people who have mailed back their ballots.

That's about 46 percent of everyone who had received one in New Jersey.

You know you can sign up and say send me a ballot for every election.

You can also sign up and say just send me a ballot for this election.

So of the people who've gotten them so far close to them back.

That compares to roughly this time in 2021 when there was about 352,000.

So we're definitely up and there has not been that big of an increase in voter registration in that time period.

of course being the last governor's race here in New Jersey trying to compare apples to apples, right?

Exactly.

Because we know we could compare to last year's presidential election.

That was a much different turnout.

What do we know just in terms of I guess the growing popularity or growing interest in mail-in ballot options?

You know, we hear from people all the time.

I talked to somebody yesterday, in fact, about it, who said, "It's just so easy to do.

I can do it from my home.

I can do research while I'm filling out my ballot.

I can look up on the Internet, you know, what is this candidate's position on X, Y, or Z."

So people just love it for that reason.

They can vote, you know, on their time.

They can do it.

They can mail it in.

They can drop it in a drop box.

So it's very convenient.

And people, a lot of people like that.

Democrats certainly like it more than Republicans.

Yeah.

You just took the question out of my mouth because obviously it's one way to predict who's turning out so far.

But as you said we consistently since these have become a major I think voting option post pandemic are seeing that it's Democrats.

Yes.

Oh it's definitely Democrats.

So pretty consistently what we've been seeing so far this year and it tracks with past years.

Almost two thirds of the ballots are sent in by Democrats.

So right now we've got two hundred and sixty seven thousand ballots from Democrats.

Ninety two thousand from Republicans.

Sixty six thousand from everybody else.

You know unaffiliated voters and some of those libertarians Green Party third party voters.

That doesn't mean that those people voted for the candidates of course of their party.

We have no idea how those people voted.

But you know the parties and party operatives people tend to think if you're a Democrat if you're a Republican and you've sent back your your mail in ballot already you're probably voting for the you know the leader of your party.

So we know that early in-person voting is starting this weekend.

What can you tell us about that trend.

Because we did see a major increase in the last election last year, right, with early in-person voting?

It was a huge increase.

You know, early in-person voting really hadn't caught on very much.

The first time we did it was, in fact, the last governor's election.

That was the first year that-- the first election that that was in play for.

And it was-- a little more than 200,000 people used that option.

In non-federal years and in non-gubernatorial years-- so a year when it's just the state legislature at the top of the ticket.

Not a lot of people vote anyway, so those numbers were quite small.

So last year, when there were lines pretty much everywhere across the state at these early in-person ballot locations, that was what I think advocates had been waiting to see.

And so people certainly embraced it last year.

Maybe they'll come out and do it again this year.

And did we see last year-- because of course, it's the only real data we can look at.

We didn't really have a strong showing, like you said, in the first gubernatorial race that it was available.

But are you seeing that same divide in terms of one party or the other choosing the early in-person voting option?

Yeah, we'll have to find out.

That starts on Saturday.

10 o'clock is when the polls open.

They're open 10 to 8.

Every day except Sundays, they're open 10 to 6.

November 2nd is the last day that that will be available.

And we'll have to see.

So last year, more Republicans did embrace it than embraced vote by mail, certainly.

But Democrats also went out early.

So I think Republicans tend to be more interested in voting in person, be it early or be it on Election Day.

Something about pushing that button themselves, right?

Yes.

Pulling the lever, however they're still doing it.

Right, exactly.

One of those things.

But there also is a segment, we're told, of people particularly in some cities of Democrats who like to go out and vote in person.

So they may be going out and doing more early in person or coming out on election day.

So obviously we don't have the in-person numbers to look at.

But just based on mail-in ballots, is there any way to draw an inference from how many people are turning out so far for this election, which we know is a non-federal election, it's not a presidential election?

Yeah, so far it looks like turnout is up compared to four years ago.

And again, we do want to compare apples to apples.

And that would not be surprising given that turnout in the primary this year hit a record numerically, not percentage-wise, but we had more than a million people, and that's just not something that New Jersey sees.

Now, there were very large fields in both the Democratic and Republican side, so that could have influenced that.

But since we're seeing these numbers up, it's, I think, safe to say that we're going to see a higher turnout than what we typically see, which is about 40 percent of registered voters voting for governor.

Okay, that's what I was going to ask you.

What percentage of the population, some nine million people here in New Jersey, end up typically coming out for a gubernatorial election?

So we've got about 6.6 million registered voters.

And in a governor's race, it might be a 39, a 40, 41.

Really doesn't usually go over that.

So about 2.6 million people will turn out.

Now, so far we've got 424.

We know 424,000 have voted.

We don't know if those are people who might have gone out on election day and voted.

So we really don't know what's-- there's a lot we don't know.

We're going to have to wait and see after polls close on election day exactly what the turnout winds up being.

But it certainly looks like at least there's some early enthusiasm.

For those voters who have never voted early in person, where can they go to find out their polling location in the short time we have left?

So we have a link on our elections page.

And if you don't go there, you can go directly to the State Division of Elections and click on the early voting tab there, the early voting link there, and that has a list, county by county.

Those locations also should be listed on the sample ballot, which if you haven't gotten it, look for it in the mail.

Can people find that online as well?

Those should be also online if you go to your local county clerk's website.

And of course, those are open typically on weekdays as well, depending on where you live.

Check it out.

And if you'd like to see more of Colleen O'Day's reporting, you can visit our website, njspotlightnews.org, where there's a treasure trove of information about this election and everything you need to know.

Colleen O'Day, thank you so much.

Great to talk to you.

Thanks very much, Joanna.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

But a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

Plus, follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky to stay up to date on all the state's big headlines.

And with Election Day just around the corner, check out our voter guide that we just told you about.

To get up to speed on the candidates and the races on the ballot this year, head to the NJ Decides 2025 tab on our homepage.

I'm Joanna Gaggis for the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you next time.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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