Key points from 5 who want to be the next governor of NJ

❎ 5 of NJ's gubernatorial candidates participated in a business forum

❎ New Jersey will choose a new governor in 2025

❎ Other candidates were invited to participate

WOODBRIDGE — New Jersey's race for governor in 2025 is crowded, with multiple candidates on both sides of the political aisle.

Five of those candidates gathered on stage Wednesday in front of hundreds of New Jersey employers and business leaders.

Who attended?

Taking part in an hour-long conversation hosted by the New Jersey Business & Industry Association:

Jack Ciattarelli, a former Republican assemblyman from Somerset County who lost the last gubernatorial election to Gov. Phil Murphy

Steven Fulop, the Democratic mayor of Jersey City

Bill Spadea, a populist and conservative Republican who hosts New Jersey 101.5's morning show

Sean Spiller, the president of the New Jersey Education Association who recently served as the Democratic mayor of Montclair

Steve Sweeney, a Gloucester County Democrat and longtime State Senate president who lost re-election in 2021

Who wasn't there?

NJBIA noted that other gubernatorial candidates were invited to join, but there were scheduling conflicts.

Beyond the panel that appeared at the APA Hotel, declared candidates for governor include:

Ras Baraka, the Democratic mayor of Newark

Josh Gottheimer, the Democratic congressman from North Jersey's 5th District

Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic congresswoman from North Jersey's 11th District

Jon Bramnick, an anti-Trump Republican state senator from Union County

Ed Durr, a Republican who defeated Sweeney in 2021 but lost his own re-election

Key points from 5 candidates

Jack Ciattarelli (Republican)

⚫ "We're a sprawl state. Sprawl is terribly expensive. I believe we need to stop sprawl in its tracks. That doesn't mean I'm not going to encourage economic development in suburbs, but we really need to direct our population growth towards our cities."

⚫ "The school funding we currently have — the current administration always wants to brag about the fact that it's fully funded. But why would you want to fully fund a flawed formula?"

⚫ "If you're a New Jersey resident who stays here after you graduate, how about the first year of W2 wages is income-tax free?"

⚫ "We need a hands-on CEO governor in this state. It's a $57 billion enterprise with 65,000 employees and 9.3 million customers."

Steven Fulop (Democrat)

⚫ "I think the best example of what type of governor I would be, and what I would change, is what have I done in Jersey City. We have transformed that city to be literally the economic backbone of New Jersey."

⚫ "We know for certain that there's too much government in New Jersey ... and consolidation is necessary. There hasn't been the will or the appetite to do that in Trenton, is the reality. And unless you culturally change how Trenton operates, that will continue to be the common thread there and nothing will get done."

⚫ "At the end of the day, you pay a corruption tax to live and operate in New Jersey. I mean by that, the structure is inherently tainted in a way that it is never incentivized to make those changes that you desperately need and that taxpayers desperately need."

⚫ "New Jersey was not bold when we got to $15 minimum wage ... We have a very, very high cost of living here, and that upward pressure is important to the lowest paid employees."

Bill Spadea (Republican)

⚫ "I believe what we really need is a mindset change. We need to be pro-business instead of pro-government."

⚫ "Three things that have to be done immediately: cut taxes, end all of the over-regulation, and create an environment where you can hire the people that you need."

⚫ "When it comes to helping all of you hire the people that you need, we've got to stop this mentality that every kid has to go to college. We've got to develop an investment into career and technical education."

⚫ "You're looking at a $7 billion cost a year to New Jersey because we have nearly 900,000 illegals in our state. You're paying for that."

SEE ALSO: How much is NJ's gas tax in 2025?

Sean Spiller (Democrat)

⚫ "We've got to take a look at a number of things to make sure that this state remains competitive, continues to draw people to this state, but also looks at your bottom-line expenses and talks about everything in a comprehensive, collective way."

⚫ "We are a well-educated state. That's an important piece of this, we want to make sure to continue that. We want to make sure this is a place where people who are coming here from out of state do want to raise their families."

⚫ "We can't constantly elect the same thing and expect some different outcome. And I think that finally having an educator who could be the next governor is something that would bring a great benefit to this state."

⚫ "Even as a kid, I knew that New Jersey was a hard place for my parents to afford."

Steve Sweeney (Democrat)

⚫ "My concern right now is, everyone saying, we've got to find more money, we've got to tax more — we've got to calm down, we've got a spending problem."

⚫ "When we legalized marijuana, we had the lowest tax rate in the nation — you can't say that many times with New Jersey."

⚫ "We keep saying we want something different, we want lower taxes, but we're not willing to do anything different."

⚫ "We need to invest in higher education. When you talk about migration of dollars leaving, we send more kids out of the state than any other state in the nation."

Cordial conversation

Before the conversation began, the candidates were reminded that the panel was "a forum, not a debate." Candidates were civil, and each person was given an opportunity to answer each question and offer closing remarks.

SEE ALSO: NJ law will mandate salary ranges in job postings

When candidates stuck to the questions, the conversation mainly focused on New Jersey's business climate. Moderator Rick Thigpen asked the candidates about their proposed plans related to economic growth, the workforce development pipeline, innovation, and property taxes on businesses.

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