In recent months, we at The Fund for New Jersey have hosted forums and roundtables across our state to discuss the many challenges residents face every day. The vibrancy, passion for change, urgency, and innovation shared in those rooms stand in sharp contrast to our current gubernatorial race.
In this election, the candidates and the public are talking past each other, with residents hungry for real answers, and candidates responding with vague platitudes and empty promises. On housing, education, transportation, immigration, and more, New Jerseyans need more from our leaders, and they deserve it.
Now is not the time for policymakers to lack specificity. Many voters feel lost and powerless and are looking for leaders to speak plainly to their concerns. The federal government has already harmed our state through draconian immigration measures, stalled transportation funding, and politicized decisions on housing and education, not to mention drastic funding cuts that will dramatically harm basic health outcomes and increase poverty. As candidates cast themselves in opposition to or in concert with President Trump, they fail to outline exactly what they will do to improve the lives of people in this state. In our forums and public meetings, people were very specific about the crisis of housing costs, transit failures, and stagnant wages.
No matter where you live, rural or urban, North Jersey, South Jersey or along the Shore, we learned that residents share far more in common than the partisan or regional lines that too often divide us.
At every stop of the Crossroads NJ Conversations series, similar themes emerged. Families are being priced out of neighborhoods they helped build. Unreliable transit makes daily life unpredictable. Unequal education funding divides children’s futures by ZIP code.
- In Camden, residents described how environmental neglect compounds these inequities;
- In Newark, participants called for decisions to be made with communities, not for them;
- In New Brunswick, people connected economic mobility to justice;
- And in Princeton, participants noted that despite laws banning segregation, New Jersey remains among the most segregated states.
As these conversations conclude, one message rings loud and clear: New Jerseyans want leaders who act with clarity and courage. The Fund for New Jersey will soon release policy priorities informed by these voices, but I wanted to share some highlights.
High on that list: establishing a dedicated revenue stream for NJ Transit, improving transparency in its governance, and ensuring riders have easy and reliable access to New York City and Philadelphia for work and leisure. Reliable transit isn’t just about convenience; it’s about access to jobs, opportunity and connection. The forums similarly discussed the need to restructure governance of our transit services to increase transparency and accountability, including changing NJ Transit’s governing structure to be accountable to the public and representative of everyone with a stake in a strong mass transit system.
Housing topped nearly every discussion, intertwined with worries about the cost of living and transportation. Residents want action, not talk. That means adopting the Build a Thriving New Jersey plan, a $600 million investment in affordable housing, and re-establishing the Office of the Public Advocate with a fair housing mandate.
People also drew a clear link between education and housing. When families can’t afford to live near good schools, inequality deepens. Residents want world-class institutions like Rutgers to be affordable and accessible to all. They called for greater investment in both two- and four-year colleges, affordable childcare, and reforms to special education funding, so every New Jerseyan, regardless of race, creed, or income, has a fair chance to succeed.
On immigration, they want leadership that reflects the reality of New Jersey, where one in four residents is an immigrant. They want policies that protect families and recognize their immense contributions to our economy and culture. As one participant put it bluntly: “If you don’t want to lead a diverse state like ours, go run somewhere else.”
Finally, many people we met raised the issue of tax fairness, which would be advanced by exempting residents below the federal poverty line from paying state income tax, and increasing transparency by publishing tax expenditures alongside the state budget.
New Jersey deserves leaders who won’t stay silent on the challenges residents face every day. Civic engagement is alive and well, as our forums made clear, but it must be matched by courage and vision from those seeking to govern. True leadership requires more than carefully crafted campaign lines; it means tackling hard issues head-on with clarity, specificity, and heart. Silence is not leadership.
New Jersey voters, and our future, demand as much.
Brandon McKoy is the President of The Fund for New Jersey.
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