ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — Atlantic City, one of the Garden State’s preeminent tourist attractions, became a destination spot this week for a special set of visitors: leading candidates for governor next year.
The 10 major gubernatorial candidates of both parties came to the seaside resort city for the League of Municipalities’ annual conference, one of the state’s longest-running political traditions.
Officially, the event is a multi-day convention where some of the most mundane aspects of local governance are discussed at panels, like recordkeeping, government procurement and municipal courts. But outside the convention center, Atlantic City becomes a playground for New Jersey’s ruling class with dozens of receptions and after parties — not sanctioned by the League — at casinos, restaurants and bars downtown.
“If you’re a gubernatorial candidate, you need to be here talking with folks from around the state,” New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chair LeRoy Jones Jr. said while walking out of the teacher’s union reception at the Hard Rock Casino. “It’s also an opportunity for those individuals that are vying for public office to be seen, be heard and hopefully come away with some results that could be meaningful to their campaigns.”
Despite the recent presidential race that saw President-elect Donald Trump make big gains statewide, the election on people’s minds was not Nov. 5, 2024 but Nov. 4, 2025. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is term limited, and a deep bench of Democrats and Republicans are eager to take his job. And the outcome in New Jersey will offer a first look at voters’ attitudes in a second Trump presidency since it is the only state besides Virginia to hold a gubernatorial election.
Many candidates in New Jersey have their own advantages — whether it be money, geographical power bases, appeal to key constituencies or labor backing — which could give them a lane to the governor’s mansion.
“It’s an incredibly powerful field. I tell you, it is filled with stars,” Murphy told reporters of the Democrats running as Bruce Springsteen blared on speakers late in the evening. Murphy, who went to the party circuit when he was a first-time candidate, was at the reception for the Middlesex County Democratic Committee, which has quickly become one of the state’s leading political machines.
The governor said he is not endorsing anyone in the race yet, although he said he “believe[s] that” a Democrat would win the governor’s mansion next November.
The race will also likely be the first gubernatorial primary without the county line, the state’s unique primary ballot design that gives candidates endorsed by county political parties a preferential location on ballots — a massive advantage in primary elections. The ballot design is not expected to be used in 2025 after Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) filed a lawsuit that abolished the line for this year’s Democratic primary and likely killed it for good.
“Democrats need to understand the landscape has changed after Andy Kim [ran for Senate],” Democratic state Sen. Vin Gopal told reporters in the hallways of the Borgata Hotel Casino. “Putting a bunch of names on a list and saying ‘this is an endorsement’ doesn’t work [anymore]. I’m concerned some pieces of the Democratic establishment are still focused on how they won elections 10 years ago. That’s not how they win now. They got to go out there and actually talk to voters which is not happening.”
Gubernatorial candidates were certainly talking around Atlantic City.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) hosted a breakfast reception at Oceans Casino, right off the casino floor. Jack Ciattarelli, who has been running for governor for most of the past 10 years, took pictures with Republican politicos from across the state grinning ear-to-ear. Conservative radio host Bill Spadea walked the casino halls with Ocean County GOP Chair George Gilmore — at one point walking by primary rival Sen. Jon Bramnick.
Bramnick, a moderate anti-Trump Republican, held his own event at the Borgata, where some of the state’s top GOP lawmakers swung by. Bramnick, told reporters he would support having GOP former Gov. Chris Christie — who left office deeply unpopular — campaign with him.
“Governor Christie is clearly on my team,” Bramnick said. “He’s come to my house. I would ask him to campaign, absolutely. [He is] one of the most articulate candidates and governors I’d ever seen.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Guinness in hand at the Irish Pub, spoke with top brass at the state’s firefighters union, which endorsed her for governor. The union formed a super PAC in recent days to boost her candidacy and reports say she had a first-day $600,000 fundraising haul.
“I think it really shows the power of the work I’ve done — all of the people that have come out in support and, kind of immediately, we’re ready to go,” Sherrill said of the fundraising sum while standing along the boardwalk.
Less than two hours later, the pub was occupied by a rival Democratic primary opponent for governor, Steve Sweeney, who was the longest-serving leader of the state Senate in New Jersey history.
“If we don’t get back in the middle where 80 percent of the voters are, we’re not gonna win anymore,” Sweeney told reporters. “Working-class people feel no one is listening to them anymore.”
While candidates criss-crossed Atlantic City, reminders of the governor’s race were visible all around. Along the Atlantic City Expressway, one of the few roads to get into the city, drivers saw a large billboard of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat running for governor. A truck with Sherrill drove around the city touting an endorsement from the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
One Democrat seemed to be everywhere: Sean Spiller, the president of the state’s teachers union.
Digital signs featuring Spiller lined the Atlantic City boardwalk. Several trucks advertising Spiller’s campaign were parked outside the convention center and eventually drove around the city. And canvassers dressed in pro-Spiller T-shirts outside a casino handed out Spiller-themed plastic water bottles .
The New Jersey Education Association, which Spiller leads, has committed $40 million to the governor’s race so far, he told reporters at a reception hosted by the union. A super PAC staffed by people close to the NJEA have said in campaign filings they could spend $35 million in the Democratic primary for governor, much of which is expected to come from the NJEA.
“Our organization, as we do in every race, has committed significant dollars to ensure we have a pro-public education candidate,” Spiller told reporters. “We’ve got at least $40 million that’s been authorized … and certainly more dollars as needed. But we want to make sure that we’re all in for somebody who’s going to be all in for New Jersey.”
The massive display of signs and trucks didn’t appear to faze at least one of Spiller’s opponents.
“God bless him — none of that stuff votes,” Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka told POLITICO.
It wasn’t only schmoozing in Atlantic City. Baraka, who is running as a progressive in the primary, moderated a panel on the efficacy of tax incentives. And six of the 10 candidates participated in Democratic and GOP panels hosted by NJ Spotlight News.
When asked about the creation of civilian complaint review boards with subpoena powers to investigate alleged law enforcement misconduct, Fulop, Baraka and Spiller said they supported it while Sweeney was hesitant. That led to a brief exchange between Sweeney, who is white, and Baraka, who is Black.
“[You could] have an opponent that you don’t like, and you’re going to use the powers of government to go after somebody,” Sweeney said.
“They have been going after people — Black and brown people, every day,” Baraka said.
“White ones too,” Sweeney chimed in.
Former state Sen. Ed Durr, who unexpectedly defeated Sweeney in 2021, suggested on a Republican panel an the state should eliminate the sales tax, a bold proposal that would be unlikely to pass the Democratic-led state Legislature.
Bramnick — who once said he would exit the governor’s race if Trump won New Jersey — said that he would call Trump on his first day as governor to establish a relationship with the president-elect. Support for Trump has become a critical early theme in the GOP primary.
“I’m gonna let him win,” Bramnick said.
Durr swiped back.
“I think he’d win anyway — I’ve seen you play golf,” he said.
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