Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said that Republicans’ playing “the crime card” has “racial elements” tied to it.
QUICK FACTS:
- New Jersey’s Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy claims that the GOP is using the “crime card” with “racial elements” involved.
- “Listen, the other guys play the crime card relentlessly and shamelessly, it seems every election,” Murphy said Tuesday on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’ “And the facts and their portrayal of the facts are in entirely different places. That doesn’t mean that crime is not an issue. It doesn’t mean that we’re not focused on it.”
- Murphy went on to claim that crime in New Jersey was down “something like 15 and 30%” and that the entire Democratic party invests “deeply” in law enforcement.
- “We invest deeply, not just here, but as a party, in the relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve. We invest in law enforcement,” Murphy said. “So, they’re really good at playing the card.”
DEMOCRAT GOV. PHIL MURPHY ON GOP CRIME FOCUS BEING “RACIST”:
“It reminds me — frankly, it goes back to Nixon’s southern strategy. It’s got racial elements to it,” Murphy said. “Let’s just call that for what it is. And here we go again. It’s — I feel like it’s a movie that we’ve seen time and time again and they’re pulling that card out again this time.”
BACKGROUND:
- In September 2022, thieves attempted to steal a vehicle from Murphy’s neighbor’s house in Middletown, New Jersey in broad daylight, News 12 reported at the time.
- According to the New Jersey State Police, 14,320 motor vehicles were reported stolen in the state in 2021, increasing 22% from 2020.
- In June 2022, Murphy claimed that arming victims from crime was not going to make the state any safer: “Allowing ordinary citizens to carry concealed weapons into stores and malls, on mass transit, in daycare centers and hospitals, in polling places, or in bars and restaurants does not make us safer,” Murphy said last summer. “And it does not make our police safer as they do their jobs. A right to carry a concealed weapon is, in actuality, a recipe for tragedy.”
- Over the past two years, Murphy released thousands of state prisoners, three of whom went on to kill five innocent people after their release, Shore News Network reported.
