On the first\u00a0night of Passover and a few days before Easter, one supposes it was understandable\u00a0that a good part of Wednesday’s CD-11 debate centered on religion and the Holy Land.<\/p>\n
Republican\u00a0Joe Hathaway waded into the Christian part of that equation when he asked opponent Analilia Mejia about comments she allegedly made that “Jesus was a socialist?”<\/p>\n
Mejia responded by referring to multiple Biblical verses quoting Jesus speaking about women’s rights, feeding the poor and\u00a0respecting immigrants.<\/p>\n
She did not specifically call Jesus a “socialist.”<\/p>\n
Hathaway countered that he, too, backs women’s rights and caring for those in need and that he definitely is not a socialist.<\/p>\n
The online debate, which was sponsored by the NJ Globe, was the first and only one of the campaign. The April 16 election will replace Mikie Sherrill in the House.<\/p>\n
Israel, and Jewish residents in general, dominated an earlier portion of the debate.<\/p>\n
A core part of Hathaway’s campaign is that Mejia is “anti-Semitic.”<\/p>\n
In one of the back and forths about this, Hathaway observed:<\/p>\n
“Anti-Semitism is a bad thing to be accused of, it is.”<\/p>\n
Mejia’s response, which surfaced earlier in the campaign, was that as a Latino woman, she understands the fears of all minority groups. And she pledged to fight anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n
The disagreement about U.S.\u00a0policy towards Israel also produced sharp exchanges.<\/p>\n
Hathaway claimed Mejia “blamed” Israel for the Oct. 7 attacks three days after they occurred.<\/p>\n
“Not true, not true,” she interjected.<\/p>\n
Mejia did reiterate that she views Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as a “war criminal.” And she said there should be widespread agreement that conditions in Gaza are deplorable.<\/p>\n
She added that the United States government should be able to tell “a friend” when they are wrong.<\/p>\n
Hathaway’s views were different. Asked about conditioning aid to Israel, he replied that we should not condition aid to an ally.<\/p>\n
The Republican stressed that Israel is a longstanding U.S. ally surrounded by countries that want to destroy it, and by extension, the United States as well.<\/p>\n
More broadly than specific issues, the debate focused on the “extremes” of each candidate.<\/p>\n
This, of course, is a matter of opinion. Both say they offer practical solutions to benefit a majority of residents in a district that covers parts of Essex, Passaic and Morris counties.<\/p>\n
Mejia repeatedly linked Hathaway to Donald Trump, contending that tariffs and budget cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act are hurting residents every day.<\/p>\n
Hathaway took the opposite approach, saying the greatest potential harm to the district are the “socialist” policies of Mejia.<\/p>\n
He said Mejia is a creature of “the Squad,” a contingent of left wing Dems led by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.<\/p>\n
She, in turn, said Hathaway is far too comfortable with MAGA and “insurrectionists.” The latter point stems from a photo he took with a man who was in Washington on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n
The Globe debate was arranged after Mejia refused a League of Women Voters debate.<\/p>\n
Democrats have slightly more than a 60,000 vote registration advantage. The mail-in ballot count also favors\u00a0Democrats so far by more than a 3-1 margin.<\/p>\n
So Hathaway needs help from the “other side” to win.To that end, he spoke about getting a good reception at a recent “meet and greet” in South Orange, a Democratic stronghold.<\/p>\n
Mejia’s gripe with the League of Women Voters had to do with the moderators. The irony here was that many Republicans think the League leans left.<\/p>\n
As for today’s debate, Hathaway\u00a0expressed some unhappiness with the moderators allowing Mejia to speak past the time allotted.<\/p>\n
“How much longer are we going to let this bell ring three or four times,” he said at one point.<\/p>\n\n\n
The post Hathaway Debates Mejia in CD-11<\/a> appeared first on Insider NJ<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n
Analilia Mejia,CD-11,Joe Hathaway\r\n
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