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Ryan Lairer on WNYC in this election year for mayor of New York and governor of New Jersey,

there will be primaries in both contests, as many of you already know, in June.

And there are multiple candidates competing on both sides of the Hudson.

We're inviting all the major primary candidates from both parties in both

races, and we kick off our New Jersey candidate interviews now with state senator John Bramnick of

Westfield running in the Republican primary. Remember, Governor Murphy's term limited out after this

year, and both parties have robust fields of hopefuls. And part of the context

is that Trump only lost in New Jersey this time by five points, and Murphy only got

re-elected by three points in 2021 against Republican Jack Chittarelli. Chittarelli is running

again, and of course we will invite him on again, but so are seven other

Republicans. John Bramnick is 71 years old. He's been a state senator since 2022. He was in the

assembly for 18 years before that, and a Plainfield City Council member before that. He's also a

lawyer and a sometimes stand-up comedian will play a

20-second clip from one of his routines during this segment. And notably in the context of the

Republican primary, he's been an anti-Trump Republican. Senator, thanks for joining us. Happy New Year and

welcome to WNYC today. Thanks for having me, Brian. Appreciate it.

I know everyone will want to know how you can win a Republican primary in 2025 being a critic of Trump and we'll get to that.

But I want to center what directly affects people's lives more than centering political strategy.

We always try to do that. So what would you identify as the

top three issues facing New Jerseyans that you would likely have to deal with as governor?

Well, my constituents always talk about the cost of living in New Jersey, that they have to move

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