Bernie Sanders Hosts Murphy Rally Before Cheering Rutgers Crowd

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — On Thursday night, Gov. Phil Murphy and Sen. Bernie Sanders hosted a lively rally on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus to get out the vote for Murphy's re-election campaign, where Murphy pleaded with younger voters and college-aged students to make sure they vote.

Election Day in the New Jersey governor's race is Nov. 2.

Livestream from the event shows an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,000 college students, loudly cheering as Gov. Murphy ran through a laundry list of achievements: A millionaire's tax, raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, making college more affordable and expanding childcare, as well as protecting and putting more taxpayer dollars towards reproductive rights/access to abortion.

In the past four years, Murphy, a man who made millions working on Wall Street, has passed some of the most progressive legislative policies in the nation.

This fact was not lost on Sen. Sanders; in fact, it's why he came Thursday night.

“I am here because your governor is one of the most progressive, if not the most progressive, governors in America,” said Sanders.

Oh, and did Murphy mention he legalized marijuana?

"We've at long last funded public education; we've expanded pre-K unlike any other state in America; we have more childcare to help moms, especially our single moms," said Murphy, as the crowd cheered. "Healthcare is more affordable; women's health is funded and protected (this got very loud cheers). And we have the strongest environmental policies out of any state in the United States of America!"

"And by the way, we have legalized weed!" he finished, to very loud cheers.

Sanders chiefly praised Murphy for raising New Jersey's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, and expanding New Jersey's Family Leave Act, now allowing NJ workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid family leave in a 24-month period and still keep their jobs.

"Right now in America we are the only major country on earth not to to guarantee paid family and medical leave. That means that moms and dads have to make a choice about whether they stay home with a sick kid or they lose their jobs. Congratulations, Gov. Murphy for passing paid family and medical leave!" said Sanders, to the roar of the college students.

Sanders also spoke about a familiar topic for him, income inequality.

"People on top making hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars in the pandemic, while low-income essential workers are dying. We have got to address income and wealth inequality and millionaires are going to have to start paying their fair share," he continued.

Murphy took some jabs at Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli, and the crowd booed when Murphy said his name.

"God forbid if he wins, the hole is very, very deep ... This guy spoke at a stop the steal rally with Confederate flags and white supremacists (the crowd booed loudly); he voted against raising minimum wage. He voted against legalizing weed," said Murphy.

The governor pleaded with young people to vote; historically, they are a group with low voter turnout.

"So folks, you get it. Folks, I need you! You have got to vote, even by mail! I need one more thing for you: I need four more years!" said Murphy.

Tap Into New Brunswick reported there were about 1,000 Rutgers college students at the rally, held inside the Hurtado Health Center. It was mostly Rutgers students in the crowd and not members of the public.

Media wishing to cover the event had to show proof of coronavirus vaccination and a spokesman for the Murphy campaign said all the students there were vaccinated. Rutgers was the first American college or university to require all its students who live on campus be vaccinated, and just this week announced that all its teachers and staff must be vaccinated, too.

This latest Stockton poll out Thursday shows Ciattarelli trailing 9 points behind Murphy, which is a closer gap than this Monmouth University poll showed Wednesday, which had Murphy 11 points ahead.

But Murphy famously said this week he's running this reelection "like he's 10 points behind."

In the past two weeks, he's called some of the Democratic Party's biggest names into New Jersey: President Joe Biden campaigned Monday for Murphy in Kearny; first lady Jill Biden was on the Murphy stump trail last week in Edison. Former president Barack Obama was in Newark on Saturday, where he led a voting rally in Weequahic Park. Prior to that, Vice President Kamala Harris was in Montclair earlier in October.

The New Jersey Republican Party called Thursday's rally "a total Bern-out," saying that only 1,000 students attended when five years ago Sanders spoke at Rutgers and attracted a crowd of thousands.

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