Eyes nationwide are on Tuesday's race for governor in New Jersey, where Republicans believe their candidate Jack Ciattarelli has a chance to beat the odds and upset Democrat Mikie Sherill, who holds a slight lead in the polls.
Passaic County, New Jersey, was reliably Democratic county until the 2024 election, when President Donald Trump was able to flip it from blue to red. Now, Democrats are hoping to reverse that change.
The population is heavily Latino, whose voters propelled Trump to victory in the county.
Democratic canvassers were outside polling places in downtown Passaic City Tuesday, handing out flyers with information on their candidates listed in Spanish.
Voters told Scripps News they believe it's more important now than ever, even in an off year election, to come out and support their candidates.
"It's been hell," one voter said of President Donald Trump's second term in office so far. "So hopefully everybody within the state of Jersey still votes blue to try to change things around. Hopefully better for everybody."
The high cost of living in New Jersey, where property taxes are some of the highest in the nation, are at center stage in the race.
Some voters told Scripps News they had reservations about Ciattarelli, the Republican candidate in the race, who had voted in the New Jersey state legislature to raise taxes several times.
But much of the race remains uncharted territory. Democrats have not won three consecutive terms for governor since 1961. Ciattarelli is running in his third consecutive race for governor.
Off year elections also suffer from lower turnout than U.S. presidential or midterm elections.
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Republicans nationally warned that they were concerned about election integrity in this year's contests. New Jersey's Republican Party requested monitors from the U.S. Department of Justice.
"We're going to have election integrity efforts all over this state," KC Crosbie, Republican National Committee co-chair, told Scripps News. "Whatever we have to do to protect the vote, we're going to protect the vote, because we found in 2024 that when we do that, we win elections."
Republicans have called the possibility of election monitors common sense measures. Democrats have warned that the presence of such monitors could intimidate voters.
Scripps News has not seen evidence of election monitors in Passaic City. Election rules require monitors, members of the media and canvassers all maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from the entrance of polling locations.
