HILLSBOROUGH: Murphy a lock for governor because of candidate-centered politics

Reader Submitted
To the editor:
The election for governor is coming up in about a week and with the polls favoring Democrat Phil Murphy by a large margin, the chances of Kim Guadagno winning are slim to none. While Democrats outnumber Republicans in New Jersey, Republican front runner Kim Guadagno is far behind not because of the political party, but because of candidate-centered politics.
The candidate-centered politics of today’s time weaken political parties, and Guadagno is having trouble because Chris Christie preceded her. After some rude statements and siding with the rich as he turned a blind eye to helping those with less money, Chrisite’s approval rating is hovering around 15 percent. With all the focus on him, New Jersey citizens are not happy with the Republican Party. Since politics are so focused on one candidate, the negative attention Christie brought to the Republican party is really hurting Guadagno in the election; as lieutenant governor to Christie, she has also faced harsh criticism even though it is said her relationship with Christie isn’t great.
When November 7 comes, I don’t think there will be any competition for governor. Phil Murphy has spent $8.3 million on his campaign, which is way more than what Guadagno has spent. Murphy has campaigned hard and I’ve seen his commercials many times running on TV, while I haven’t seen one for Guadagno. Most voters probably don’t spend a ton of time researching governor candidates, so Murphy, who has gotten his name out through countless media outlets, has been influencing the voters while Guadagno has gotten lots of negative press as she tries to clean up Christie’s mess.
In the case of this election, candidate-centered politics have brought such bad press to the Republican party that any Democrat would most likely win, but Murphy, who seems to work hard and wants the role as governor, would be a good option to succeed Christie.
Megan Hollasch
Hillsborough