S6 Ep8: New Jersey: The 'No Narc' State (with Jonathan V. Last)

The Focus Group Podcast

The Bulwark

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The New Jersey governor's race is a little too close for comfort, after New Jersey had one of the largest swings toward Donald Trump of any state in the country, and the Democratic candidate, Mikie Sherrill is on track for a sub-optimal performance on Election Day against a sometimes-MAGA Republican, Jack Ciattarelli. Sarah doesn't let JVL on The Focus Group very often, but made an exception because he's one of The Bulwark's resident New Jerseyans. You don't want to miss this one.

Transcript

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1:19.2	Hello everyone and welcome to the Focus Group podcast.
1:22.1	I'm Sarah Longwell, publisher of the bulwark.
1:31.1	And this week we are walking through a governor's race that is as too close for comfort as the traffic on the New Jersey turnpike.
1:36.5	New Jersey was a shockingly close race in the 2024 presidential election.
1:42.0	Kamala Harris only won it by six points, which might sound like a lot in our polarized country, but it was one of the largest shifts toward Donald
1:45.6	Trump in any state in the country. Now, in their race for governor, one Democrat that I tend to like,
1:52.6	she's one of our sort of bulwarky kind of Democrats, Mikey Sherrill, is trying to hang on, but is
1:58.7	polling underwhelmingly against Republican Jack Chittarelli.
2:02.3	Chitterelli.
	...

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