Governor's Race 2017

1. What have the candidates been saying about one another? Do any of their criticisms hold merit?

1.1. Chris Christie makes fun of Donald Trump on Twitter on a regular basis, but during the presidential campaign he stood by Trump after Christie dropped out. He continually slammed Marco Rubio during the presidential race, and anyone else who went against his views. -Charlotte

1.2. Throughout the race Gillespie has attacked Northam with advertisements. In one ad, Gillespie claims that Northam’s automatic restoration of rights policy will allow criminals to walk free and more easily access firearms. While this may not be true in every case, It did restore the rights of one man who had been arrested for child pornography. Gillespie’s ads also accuse Northam’s policies of increasing MS-13 gang violence, which is not true. During debates Gillespie often states that unlike himself, Northam is not organized and clear with his policies. -Natalia

1.3. Kim Guadano's biggest political rival is democrat Phil Murphy. Murphy and Guadagno have been in multiple debates. Guadagno accuses Murphy about not knowing what he is doing in the race and that he is clueless to anything important. Voters have said multiple times that they dislike both candidates. -Ryan

1.4. Phil Murphy is accusing Chris Christie and Kim Guadagno of destroying New Jersey’s economy and raising taxes. Chris Christie closed the bridge impacting many residents of New Jersey because of Christie's personal problems. Christie isn't a good representation of New Jersey. Christie also has the lowest approval rating of any governor because of his incompetence. Christie and Guadagno aren't allowing New Jersey to move forward and have a better economy and Murphy wants to move New Jersey forward and helped make New Jersey’s economy better again. -Elisía

2. How has media influenced coverage of the candidates running or the incumbent in office? In what ways have you seen the bias?

2.1. Kim Guadagno has received a negative connotation in mass media due to the fact that she has worked alongside current governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie. Kim Guadagno has stated multiple times that she does not want to be affiliated with Chris Christie or his political views since he has the lowest approval rating in all of America. -Ryan

2.2. Ralph is viewed positively by the media and hasn’t received a lot of backlash for the media. However, he did suffer a predicament where he left out his running mate, Justin Fairfax, from his ticket which lead the media to think he’s racist. However, Ralph cleared up his mistake. -Stacey

3. How much change would the candidate represent for the state if they were elected? (compare issues of incumbent to the challengers within a state)

3.1. If Gillespie were elected, many things would change in Virginia because of the change from Democratic to Republican governor. First, Gillespie would lower taxes by ten percent. He would lower government spending on healthcare and instead try to increase competition between healthcare insurance companies to lower costs. He would eliminate many of the current policies such as the automatic restoration of rights policy and the allowance of sanctuary cities, as well as lessen the regulations on guns. If he were elected, Virginians would definitely feel the effects. -Natalia

3.2. McAuliffe’s challenger was Republican Ken Cuccinelli. As a republican, Cuccinelli’s platform greatly differed from McAuliffe in almost every issue, including Cuccinelli’s views on gender equality: “Homosexuality is against nature and harmful to society. (Jul 2013)”, health care, and jobs. Although the governor of VA and their views would be drastically different if Cuccinelli had become governor, there is no guarantee that Cuccinelli's conservative beliefs would make their way into Virginia laws. -Matilda

3.3. If Ralph were to become the governor, guns would be handled differently and there would be different process to be able to own and gun. Also, health care will provided for soldiers who are just coming back from the army. -Stacey

3.4. A lot of change will occur in New Jersey if Phil Murphy is elected governor. First off Murphy will raise taxes to pay for the free/reduced health care. Also gun safety regulations will increase heavily. Everyone will need to have background checks when they purchase a gun as well as a mandatory gun safety class everyone would have to attend. -Elisía

4. Examine one of the issues in the race, How do the stances between candidates compare?

4.1. Ed Gillespie believes that to improve healthcare in Virginia, we must increase inter state competition between private healthcare companies. He believes more competition will lower prices and increase quality. He rejects the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) and believes that the government should spend less on healthcare. Ralph Northam, on the other hand, agrees with Obamacare and is against those who want to shut it down. Both candidates are against the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill that has was proposed in Senate recently. -Natalia

4.1.1. One of the big views in the political race is gun control. Republican candidate Kim Guadagno believes that instead of adding more gun control laws that it would be more strategic to do a better job of enforcing them. New Jersey has some of the most strict gun control laws in the whole country already, so better enforcing them will prevent acts of terror from happening. However democratic candidate Phil Murphy believes that a ban on certain special firearms and requiring more education in order to get a firearms license. Both of these candidates believe that more should be done in order to keep New Jersey safe. -Ryan

4.2. Chris Christie believes that we should focus more on the mental health issues behind gun violence, and less on the actual gun control. He believes that we shouldn’t ban assault weapons and that intense background checks should be required before a gun is bought. Ed Gillespie, on the other hand, is a strong supporter of the right of people to have guns. -Charlotte

4.3. McAuliffe’s stance on gun control is both similar and different than Christie’s. McAuliffe does not have an extensive policy on gun control, rather simply stating that he would “pursue strategies to ensure all gun owners undergo a background check when purchasing a firearm”. Christie, on the other hand, believes the focus of gun control regulations should make more of a point to realize and work to improve the mental illnesses behind shootings. Christie also believes that although a full ban should not be implemented, intense background checks should be required before a purchase. -Matilda

5. What are the greatest strengths or most glaring weaknesses of each individual relative to one another?

5.1. Chris Christie’s greatest strength is that he is determined and doesn’t let anything or anyone stand in his way. His most glaring weakness is that he is very opinionated and stubborn. -Charlotte

5.2. McAuliffe and Christie’s views are opposites. While McAuliffe upholds traditionally Liberal ideas, Christie’s views are very conservative. One of McAuliffe’s strengths is that he is a well-liked governor. Christie, on the other hand, holds the title as the most disliked governor in the entire country, and has the lowest approval rating at 15%. When McAuliffe was running for the office, many people criticized him for the amount of money he was spending on campaign ads. Articles were written about him during his campaign, bashing him for raising “too much money” and buying “too many ads”. Now that McAuliffe is governor, the criticisms have changed gears, and now focus on his steps as governor. One of his most criticized steps is restoring the rights of nearly 206,000 felons. Reports also state that certain executive orders of McAuliffe’s make it easier for previously convicted felons to acquire firearms after being released. -Matilda

5.3. Phil Murphy’s greatest strength is that he has a lot of experience with politics. Phil Murphy was the Ambassador to Germany. -Elisía

5.4. Ralph greatest strength is that he has a lot of experience in politics because he’s been a Virginia state senator and is a current lieutenant governor of the commonwealth of Virginia. He’s also an US army veteran and an American physician. However, his greatest weakness is that nobody really knows about him, he’s not popular amongst the people. Without popularity amongst people, it makes with harder to win during the candidate race, especially against candidates who are more popular than you. -Stacey