Booker's GOP Challenger Says His Unscripted 'Finish It' Debate Line on Iran Can End New Jersey's 54-Year Republican Senate Drought
Navy veteran Justin Murphy tells Fox News Digital he has no speechwriter and no teleprompter, and that voters want a new generation in Washington. Booker's campaign did not respond.
A Republican long shot in New Jersey got a viral moment out of a single blunt answer, and he says it was not planned.
Justin Murphy, a Navy veteran and former deputy mayor of Tabernacle, was asked in a debate with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., about Iran war strategy. Fox News reports he said President Trump should forcefully "finish it." Murphy told Fox News Digital the clip took off on social media without any effort from him. "I don't have a speechwriter. There's no teleprompter. I shoot from the hip because I want people to see a very sincere, genuine and authentic Justin Murphy," he said.
The history he is running against. Fox notes the last Republican to represent New Jersey in the Senate was Clifford Case, last elected in 1972. Murphy says he was in first grade at the time. His pitch is "a new generation of Americans to serve in Washington." He points out that Booker has served 13 years, "longer than Donald Trump," and says Booker cannot blame the president for laws and budgets Congress passes.
Gas prices. Murphy acknowledged that voters in his Philadelphia-area region are upset about gasoline, which he put at $4.20 a gallon as of Wednesday. His answer: they paid more than $5 under Joe Biden, with higher interest rates and inflation, and the long-term fix is more domestic energy and more refining capacity. Those price and rate comparisons are his, and we have not checked them.
On immigration and elections. He criticized a bill from Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security, calling it "madness and insanity." He also said New Jersey has "contaminated rolls" and called the state's immigration enforcement posture "utter insanity." Fox reports hundreds of noncitizens have been found to have voted in recent New Jersey elections and that the Sherrill administration is pushing back on federal efforts to act. Murphy said he wants a system that is "fair, accurate" and reflects voters' will, not one that favors Republicans.
What is missing. Booker's campaign did not respond to Fox's request for comment on the exchange. The report does not include polling, so it gives no sign of how competitive the race is.