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♪ ♪ David: Hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Chat Box."

Summer is rapidly approaching, and any self-respecting Jersey commuter knows what that means.

We will talk about the prospects for another summer of hell in our second half.

But we begin with the statewide primaries.

For those of you about to vote, we salute you.

Joining us to take a look at this very important election are two men intimately involved in the process.

Chris Russell is a Republican strategist working right now with the campaign of Jack Ciattarelli.

And Roy Jones is the head of the Democratic committee.

They are the duo of political discourse and they are here to break it down.

Always good to see you.

Good to see you guys.

Let's start at the top.

The governor's race.

Chris, your guy got the big endorsement from the president.

It turns out he really didn't need it.

Begging the question, will he come to regret it in the fall?

Chris: I don't think so, no.

Last year, Donald Trump surprised a lot of people to getting within five points here in New Jersey, and that is coming off of Jack losing by just three points four years before.

A registration advantage for Democrats that has gone from 1.1 million down to 800,000.

There is a trend here and it is moving right, it is moving red.

That is where the state is moving.

And I think President Trump will be an asset.

David: Really?

That trump race was last year and his popularity in New Jersey has been higher.

It has started to shrink a little bit.

You still feel that confident?

Chris: The last poll I saw had his approval rating is higher than Bill Murphy's.

This will be a race that I don't think -- the Democrats would like to make this a 2017-2018 repeat.

I don't think that is the political environment we are looking at anymore.

They will have to deal with their failures.

The referendum is on them.

From a crime standpoint, school curriculum, on and on, energy, transit, we are looking for a referendum on the Democrats in this state.

David: They say even if Trump did not endorse Ciattarelli that you all were going to say he is the trump guy anyway.

Is he going to regret that in the fall?

Roy: I think so.

I think we have seen a freefall with the beginning of the Trump administration, another Trump Administration.

Affordability is still a struggle for New Jerseyans and individuals across the nation.

His immigration policy has been abysmal.

And you see that right here in New Jersey with obviously some incidents that were in the news recently.

I think Jack will regret the Trump endorsement, and I think you will see a boomerang effect of what Chris just attempted to explain and justify to us.

It is going to be a different story come November.

David: Meanwhile, URA Sherrills -- you are a Sherrills -- you are a Sherrill guy.

Earned about that very situation -- shouldn't you be very concerned about that situation?

Roy: I don't think she is the establishment candidate.

You could say that about Jack.

Jack could be the establishment candidate on that side.

I think Mikie has broad appeal.

She has won consistently in a Republican congressional district.

She reaches across the aisle.

David: She is 16 out of 21 counties that have endorsed her.

You can't say she is not the establishment candidate.

Roy: Well, there is a process, conventions.

David: Fair and square as it may be, she is still the establishment candidate.

Roy: She is the People's candidate.

She is the across-the-board appeal candidate.

Look, nobody is running away from that.

We are going to embrace that as well.

It only adds depth to a primary election structure.

But we will see how that develops in this primary election and how that takes its course in the general election.

David: Chris, five Democrats running.

Who does Jack Ciattarelli want to run against and why?

Chris: Let me say, could it be the guy who got arrested defending illegal immigrants?

Could it be the woman who has made millions on the stock market when she was in Congress?

It doesn't matter to us, David.

We will take any of them at this point.

I think the weakness of Mikie Sherrill has been displayed for all to see.

She should have put this primary away months ago.

She is struggling to do that.

She may not even win it.

I am sure there will be some sweaty palms on The Other Side on June 10.

We will see.

I feel like any of the Democrats will have to defend the record of Phil Murray.

Eight years of Murray that has put the state in a terrible position in terms of its affordability, its business climate, overdevelopment is rampant, school funding where I live, our schools are getting defunded basically, closed down.

I think the Democrats have a lot to answer for.

Right now, they thought Mikie Sherrill would be the elixir, and she has proven to be a pretty shaky candidate.

And she might not even make it to the general.

So, we are happy to take anybody on.

We are happy where Jack is.

He is seasons, tested.

He knows what is in store.

We are ready for anybody.

David: We are in the middle of early voting -- Roy: Spoken like a true lean MAGA new guy.

Chris: I'm not sure what that is.

[laughter] David: Two different insults and there, I like it.

We are in the middle of mail-in voting.

How does that effect it?

Is there anything your organizations are planning?

Roy: I think GoTV is typical in this case.

Candidates have put themselves before the electorate.

They have done mail, TV.

From all candidates, there is a robust canvas and voter ID program.

It has been a vote by mail program that has been pretty robust.

Early voting has ticked up here in my county, Essex.

So, the game plan pretty much is consistent across the board.

No different than what Chris's Republicans and MAGA Republicans do.

David: I saw Jack Ciattarelli had a post telling people to vote early and to send in their vote by mail.

That is still new rhetoric for Republicans.

You guys are coming to endorse the things that you used to say was the seed of corruption.

Roy: Republicans have to vote by mail and get used to it.

In that sense, I think the party has been coming along.

But where we really made gains is on the early in person vote that happened last year.

It was a really strong performance for Republicans.

It was probably one of the reasons why Tom Kane was able to hold his seat.

David: You guys are embracing that.

Roy: You have to.

Taking it from the Democratic playbook.

Chris: Early in person voting, I have done it since it started.

I encourage people to do it.

Jack I think will vote early this year in person as well.

I think what Republicans need to do, if we want to win elections, you want to govern the state, you have to win the elections first.

That means embracing vote by mail and bracing -- and embracing the early vote.

In a county like Burlington, it is about neck and neck.

So, we are over performing.

It is a good sign.

David: The assembly is up.

The entire assembly.

I feel like we haven't paid a lot of attention to the assembly races.

This is the first year where the county line will not be there to help organizations or the machine, if you want to call it that, and their candidates.

Chris, what impact are you expecting?

Chris: We haven't had a significant number of legislative primaries.

So, we might not see as much as Leroy and his side, we might not see that on our side what it means.

I think certainly the ballot is different.

When you look at it, it is foreign to anyone who has voted in New Jersey.

It will be interesting to see how voters adapt to it and how easily they adapt to it.

But on our side, we have a few primaries where the best candidates will win.

But we have to pick up seats in the assembly.

Jack doing well in 2021 helped flip some seats.

They gave those back in 2023.

We have to take them back and 2025 and then some.

Our job is to weigh the election for governor and when the majority in the assembly.

David: Jack Ciattarelli has raised the prospect of flipping the assembly.

You don't believe that, do you?

Roy: They are going to try to sell you a song and a dance and pipedreams.

You know I don't believe that, and I don't think Jack does.

I don't think Chris does.

On shows like yours, which is well viewed, that is what he is supposed to say.

We are going to protect the legislature, we will pick up gains.

Jack is going to wear Donald Trump through this general election contest.

As Donald Trump continues to roll out a horrific and trying administration and policies that impact people, particularly here in New Jersey, affordability, tariffs that are tanking our economy and our financial markets, those things are going to loom in a railway during this general election contest, and perhaps even before that -- in a real way during this general election contest, and perhaps even before that.

That will determine the outcome of the Democratic victory for a gubernatorial candidate, as well as continuing to grow the legislature.

David: Here is kind of a left field question in hopes that one of you can say something nice about somebody on the others IP.

Chairman, five Republicans running.

Who ran the best race on the Republican side?

Roy: Whatever the one that Chris Russell is associated with.

[laughter] David: Chris, who ran a good race on the Democratic side?

Chris: I am a junkie for these debates, and I watch the speeches.

I found Ras Baraka to be super charismatic and compelling, and he is the only candidate I see sometimes who has a message on the Democratic side.

The others are trying not to have a message.

At least he has the courage of his convictions and is not a pride to be at that out there.

I don't think he will win but I think he has included himself well.

David: You say courage of convictions.

The charges were dropped, just so you are clear.

[laughter] Chris: I didn't say he was convicted, I said the courage of his convictions.

[laughter] David: Gents, always good to see you.

We hope to talk to you on Tuesday.

Summer is here and the time is right for another transit hell.

Or maybe not.

Lots to talk about as far as getting around this summer.

Let's get an update on current connections -- conditions in a preview of what to expect with Colleen Wilson, transportation reporter for North Jersey.com, and Larry Hakes, who covers NJ.com.

Colleen, hello.

Larry, how are you doing?

It is good to see you both.

Let's start with the thing we have all been talking about, Newark airport.

What is happening there?

Let's start with you, Colleen.

Colleen: The Port Authority just announced it was able to open, reopen one of its runways that have been closed for routine repairs.

That opened 13 days early on June 2.

It is being certified by the FAA, and that certification which could come as soon as June 10 should allow Newark airport to be able to operate more flights, which would be welcome I'm sure for money -- I am sure for many New Jersey residents and flyers.

David: Was there some cable laid from Philadelphia to somewhere?

What was that?

Larry: According to our Transportation Secretary, Verizon has been replacing the old telephone lines between the traffic control center and Philadelphia international Airport, which has a section that is controlling Newark airport.

So, Verizon is replacing that with fiber-optic line, which should get data to the air traffic controllers faster and not have the kind of failures that we saw in April and May.

So, that is being laid.

That will take about a month to test.

So, if all goes well, hopefully that will alleviate at least some of the technical problems.

David: You say telephone lines and I think of my old rotary phone that I had 50 years ago.

I mean, does that replacement make things state-of-the-art?

Larry: Well, it is a faster flow of data.

To this day, I marvel at how air traffic controllers do what they do when you look at the volume coming into Newark.

You're talking about the handling of a flight at least once a minute, maybe even less.

So, they need that radar data coming from New York to Philadelphia sooner than now.

The fiber-optic line allows that to happen.

The telco lines, they were slow, they were old, they were subject to failure.

If they failed, you had to kick in a backup.

But it is like waiting for your generator to go home when there is a power problem.

This means they will get better information faster.

David: So we have gone from dial-up to Wi-Fi, I guess.

Colleen, the conditions are different, right?

Are there still fewer flights and it's based more between them?

-- and spaced more between them?

Colleen: That's right.

I think it is in the neighborhood of 56 an hour at Newark Airport.

This was lowered to increase safety amid the air traffic controller shortage and the runway construction that was going on, which is why when the runway construction ended and it is being certified, they will be able to increase that number of flights per hour slightly.

Even still, they will be below the normal 77 planes an hour that are able to arrive and depart on a normal day at Newark Airport, and that is in large part because of this air traffic controller shortage that has plagued this area, and the nation, but especially in Newark and New York for some time now.

David: This all feels to me like all the good ingredients for a summer of Hell for commuters.

The flights, there's not going to be as many.

And who knows what the delays are going to be?

Larry, summer of hell?

Yes or no?

Larry: I am going to say TBA because it is so Lord of like -- it is sort of like owning an old car.

You can fix one part of the old car, but you can't speak to what will break down in the future.

That is what NJ transit and Amtrak are facing.

Amtrak has done some work.

They tried to pick critical areas where there was high usage, potential of failure, and NJ Transit announced a plan to try to deal better with the maintenance of old equipment by having parts, sourcing parts better.

So at least when stuff breaks down, they can get it through the system.

But the wild card will be the kind of weather we see.

If we see heat, that is the enemy of electric railroads.

David: Colleen, are they any better off organizationally, technologically, to at least be able to avoid the man-made conditions that create a summer of hell?

Colleen: I would say most of the summer of hell problems come back to hardware, mechanical, catenary.

What we need to see at the organizations is coordination, transparency, making sure that they are working together to address those problems as quickly as possible, getting information out to customers as quickly as possible.

These were all problems that came to the forefront last year with a lot of angry customers on Amtrak, on New Jersey transit.

So, it remains to be seen now.

A new administration at New Jersey Transit and Amtrak will rise to that occasion this summer, if indeed many of those problems surface, as we expect they will.

David: The governor has made a big show over the year of bringing Amtrak and NJ Transit and the Port Authority together to show that they are working together.

But are they, Larry?

Is there any evidence to suggest that over this past year they have become a team now?

Larry: If we are to believe the update to press conferences that both Colleen and I have attended, they lay out some of the progress that has been made.

I did an article earlier in the year talking to Amtrak about specifically some of the progress that they did.

The other side of the coin is you have lawmakers like Frank Pallone, who are holding their feet to the fire, and at least with the prior administration at Amtrak, they were on regular calls with the Amtrak CEO, going back and forth about all the issues, what they were doing, both the short term repairs and the long-term repairs to finally replace this aging catenary wire.

So future generations, maybe that will be five years from now or 10 years from now, won't have to deal with the summer of hell issues.

David: This New Jersey transit strike is over.

They will not vote it down after the leadership said OK, right?

It is over, the strike?

Larry: The vote is on primary day.

It will be a big day for New Jersey politicians and New Jersey commuters.

The union has kept a tight lid on both the agreement and what is in it.

I think they don't want to taint the voting by having outside commentary that might affect what union members decide to do.

We are going to find out on the 11th.

That is what they have said to us.

Sometime after 3:00 p.m. David: Port Authority bus terminal.

They did a ribbon-cutting -- not a ribbon-cutting, a groundbreaking.

That is good news, right?

How quickly is that all going to happen now?

Colleen: Quick, I'm not sure if that is the word I would use.

But port authority, they were quick to say they wanted to see it done in less than 10 years, even though 10 years is what they have put the timeframe at, so we will be waiting and seeing with baited breath if this massive project is going to take 10 years at the end of the day.

But yes, they did have a groundbreaking, which is exciting.

So many people have been waiting for this project.

They have been talking about designs and scrapping plans and putting it on the back burner since at least 2007.

So, this is an exciting time to see that project move forward and how it comes together.

David: Congestion pricing, is that still a thing, Larry Higgs?

Larry: Oh yes.

We had some court action last week where the MTA got the injunction they were seeking.

What that means for drivers is congestion pricing will continue conceivably at least through how long it takes them to go through the depositions and gathering all the evidence for the lawsuit that the MTA filed against the U.S.

DOT.

So basically what the judge did is he said to the U.S.

DOT, you cannot take any punitive action against New York.

You can't withhold highway funding.

For New Jersey drivers, that could mean we will see congestion pricing continue at least through the fall, into October and maybe later.

David: Colleen, lastly here, sinkholes again on I-80.

Did I just hear something opened up again?

Colleen: They opened up two lanes, but I believe they have two lanes on both sides of Route 80.

The expectation is the highway will be fully reopened June 25, I believe that is the date they are targeting for, which is contingent on the weather and other factors, if another sinkhole emerges.

That would set things back.

But so far, they have had pretty smooth repairs operations ongoing.

So, everyone expects the end of June for that highway massive corridor to reopen by the end of the month.

David: That is good news then.

Let's end on that positive note and say that we will put off discussion of a summer of hell for another couple weeks.

So far, it does not look too bad, right?

Larry: Cross your fingers.

[laughter] David: Larry, Colleen, always great to talk to you guys.

Thanks for coming on.

Larry: Thanks for having us.

David: A programming note.

Voting has already begun.

It ends on Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., and that is when we hit the airwaves with live coverage.

NJ Decides 2025 primary election night Tuesday, June 10th, live starting at 8:00 p.m. Plus, correspondents at key headquarters across the state and political analysis from all the people who know.

Join us Tuesday night starting at 8:00 and going until we know what happens.

That is "Chat Box" this week.

Thanks to Leroy Jones and Chris Russell for joining us.

We are on BlueSky now.

You can follow us.

And keep up with the stories we talked about today and other stuff coming out of the newsroom by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

I am David Cruise.

For the crew here at Gateway Center in downtown Newark, thank you for watching.

We will see you on Tuesday.

Announcer: Major funding for "Chat Box with David Cruz" is provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association, making public schools great for every child.

Promotional support for "Chat Box with David Cruz" is provided by Insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players an interactive forum for ideas, discussion, and insight.

Online at insiderNJ.com.

♪ ♪