MAKE NEW JERSEY AFFORDABLE AGAIN

My Plan

Launch the New Jersey Report Card — a first-of-its-kind public platform that makes state spending transparent, accessible, and accountable. The Report Card will feature an easy-to-use online portal that shows the payments, contracts, and programs funded by the state government.

Require state agencies to evaluate the programs that they operate and identify whether funded programs are actually meeting their goals.

Make state contracts fully transparent. Contracts will be posted online, detailing in plain, simple language who won the contract, its total cost, what the state is expected to receive in return, and what was eventually delivered to New Jerseyans.

Allow residents to track where their taxpayer dollars are going, how the funding levels of certain programs have changed over time, and the drivers of long-term trends in the state budget and spending.

Take a hard look at what state funding actually achieves and how cost-effectively it does so. For programs and contracts that are funded by the state, the Report Card will display costs to taxpayers and evidence-based information on what they deliver for families.

Provide New Jerseyans with a plain-language, interactive version of the budget that will allow residents to see what the governor proposed, the changes made by the Legislature, and what was ultimately signed into law.

My Record

Delivered millions of dollars in federal funding to projects across New Jersey, with transparency explicitly built into the projects. This focus on transparency included disclosures to prevent self-dealing, public details on what organization had been awarded funding and for what purpose and cost, and certifications of project need.

Introduced the Supreme Court Ethics and Investigations Act, which would establish a dedicated investigative body and ethics counsel within the Supreme Court to expand transparency and accountability through exhaustive investigations into alleged ethical improprieties and reports to Congress on its findings.

Led efforts to oppose Donald Trump’s firing of dozens of Inspector Generals, the independent watchdogs who serve within federal agencies and are tasked with investigating allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse.

Helped lead efforts to pass the Amtrak Transparency and Accountability for Passengers and Taxpayer Act, legislation that would require Amtrak to release more information to the public about the timing and location of their board meetings, allow Americans to observe their meetings, and produce publicly available minutes.

Passed legislation improving Department of Defense auditing and accountability. These bills boosted Pentagon efforts to make all defense spending fully auditable and helped implement expanded oversight on the Navy’s use of taxpayer dollars.

Helped to lead amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that would hold the Pentagon accountable for reviewing and certifying secure protocols for transmitting classified information.

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

The decision of if and when to start a family is one that every woman deserves to make for herself — and that’s why I have always fought for access to abortion and comprehensive reproductive health care. Since Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I’ve led the fight to protect women’s access to emergency abortion care, block efforts to ban medication abortion like mifepristone, and ensure military servicewomen have access to abortion and contraception, no matter where they are stationed. While New Jersey is a leader in reproductive freedom, I know that as governor, there is more we can do to ensure every woman has access to the reproductive health care she needs. And with Donald Trump back in the White House, we have to protect access to abortion rights here in New Jersey.

I strongly support enshrining the right to an abortion in New Jersey's state constitution to permanently protect reproductive freedom. Despite laws in place to protect access to care, too often women in New Jersey face additional barriers in getting care. New Jersey must take action to require comprehensive insurance coverage for all reproductive health care services, including abortion. I will continue our work expanding access to contraception and IVF services so that every New Jerseyan has affordable access to the family planning services they need. We will be the first line of defense in protecting reproductive rights.

Early Childhood

Access to quality child care is a lifeline for families and strengthens our economy, but far too many parents either can't find care, or even when it is available, can't afford it. Some parents have to make the impossible choice of enrolling their child in a program that doesn’t fit their budget or leaving their job to care for them. This issue is personal to me as a mother of four — I remember when I was looking for child care and had to make that decision. I will work to bring down the cost of child care for families and allow parents the ability to rejoin the workforce or take on more hours at work, strengthening their family’s financial security.

In Congress, I’ve tackled this issue head-on. I introduced legislation — modeled after the military and Head Start — that would cap a family's out-of-pocket costs for child care at 7 percent of their income and bolster the early childhood education workforce to ensure that every family can find and afford high-quality child care. I helped pass legislation that expanded the federal child tax credit, which lifted nearly three million children out of poverty. As governor, I will expand New Jersey’s child tax credit, which would reduce child poverty and help families afford child care — or anything else their family needs.

Our local businesses feel the significant strain when their employees can't find reliable child care. I will work with New Jersey employers to establish support programs that enable them to offer the child care options their employees need. Affordable child care isn't just necessary for parents — it’s essential for employers and New Jersey’s economy.

Education

New Jersey has some of the best public schools in the country. But this isn’t true of every zip code, where we continue to see large disparities in educational opportunities — which leaves talent on the table despite efforts to close the achievement gap. A strong foundation starts with making early childhood education, pre-K, and kindergarten affordable and available in every corner of the state.

Across New Jersey, students in every district continue to face post-pandemic struggles with mental health and learning loss. That’s why I fought to bring back federal funding to safely reopen schools and get kids back on track, including by introducing legislation to provide high-quality tutoring to students. As governor, we’ll expand on this progress by supporting effective programs — like high-impact tutoring — that address learning loss. We’ll address the mental health crisis by increasing the number of school counselors, psychologists, and mental health services in our schools. And as a mom of four, I know that kids learn better when their stomachs are full. I will make school meals available at no cost for every student in New Jersey because we know good nutrition is essential to academic achievement.

As our students graduate high school and move on to college or their careers, we can better prepare them by creating stronger pathways between schools and the workforce. This includes offering more apprenticeships, working closely with employers and colleges, and expanding job training programs. Our union apprenticeship and job training programs turn out some of the best trades workers in the country, and we need to make sure they have what they need to empower the next generation of the high-skilled workforce. A high-quality education opens doors and provides New Jerseyans with the opportunity to forge their own path to success.

Transportation

In New Jersey, transportation isn't just a policy — it's the backbone of our state. And right now, it's causing headaches for far too many of our neighbors.

New Jersey commuters and families, including my own, have faced unacceptable delays, congestion, and service breakdowns on our transportation system that we rely on every day. Too many commuters have had the frustrating experience of waiting for a train or bus that never comes or arrives too late — leading to missed shifts, family occasions, and their kids' events. And on our highways, our patience is tested daily as we sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

New Jersey needs affordable, accessible public transportation that our families and commuters can rely on. As governor, I will tackle congestion and our aging infrastructure by investing in mass transit while maintaining and upgrading our roads and rails.

I have been a tireless advocate for improved service along the Northeast Corridor by demanding accountability from the federal government for service breakdowns caused by neglected Amtrak equipment so that New Jersey commuters don’t keep suffering from another “Summer from Hell” year after year.

Since I arrived in Congress, I have been a staunch advocate for the Gateway Project to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River — I’ve even been referred to as the “Tunnel Obsessed Congresswoman.” I successfully fought to bring our tax dollars back to New Jersey to fund the largest federal transit investment in U.S. history. This project will double train capacity between New Jersey and New York and create thousands of good-paying union jobs.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I brought back billions of federal dollars to repair New Jersey’s aging roads and bridges, and as governor, I’ll continue to make investments and improvements a top priority.

For every one dollar spent on infrastructure, we generate five dollars in economic activity. That is a great return on investment and an economic driver for our state and region. The Northeast Corridor rail line touches 20 percent of the entire U.S. economy and goods from the Port of New York and New Jersey can reach about 50 percent of Americans within 36 hours. We cannot allow our infrastructure to hold back this economic engine, and greater access to this transit network will create key pathways to the middle class for New Jersey families.

I will work with federal partners and New York to keep the Gateway Projects funded and on schedule and secure other investments that improve service and reliability. And NJ TRANSIT must have a customer-focused mindset, improving its communication with riders and making investments that create a better experience that gets people to work on time. A reliable, convenient, affordable, and accessible transit system is vital for New Jersey, will connect people to opportunity, and drive the innovation economy.

Energy Costs and the Environment

As governor, I will take bold action to drive down energy costs and utility bills, protect our communities and ecosystems, build climate-resilient infrastructure, and reduce our carbon emissions. Utility costs are out of control in New Jersey. Families are spending almost their entire budget just to pay the electric bill this summer. It’s time for action, because people just can’t wait any longer.

So on Day One as New Jersey’s next governor, I’m going to declare a State of Emergency on Utility Costs and freeze your utility rates, massively build out cheaper and cleaner power generation, and require more transparency from our utility companies, including PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric, and Rockland Electric and our grid operator PJM. Prices are spiking because of a huge power shortage — I’ll transform New Jersey’s energy picture to build new, cheaper, and cleaner energy generation, bring down families’ bills, and put the Garden State on track to hit our emissions and clean air goals.

In addition to rapidly building out cleaner and cheaper energy generation, we need urgent action to mitigate flooding, remediate brownfields, clean up Superfund sites, and remove lead and forever chemicals from our drinking water. In Congress, I’ve fought for and successfully brought back millions of dollars to New Jersey to make our communities more flood resilient, replace lead service lines and water infrastructure, and take on environmental pollution. I am proud to have led passage of the Great American Outdoors Act to protect New Jersey’s open spaces, including the Delaware Water Gap, the Great Swamp, and Sandy Hook. As governor, I will incentivize brownfields redevelopment to protect our environment and open up economic and housing opportunities.

Addressing our environmental needs, lowering our energy costs, and making our energy grid cleaner don’t have to be in tension. As governor, I’m going to build a more prosperous, more affordable, and cleaner New Jersey.

Read more about Mikie’s Day One Emergency Declaration on Utility Costs and how it will make our energy cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable.

Read more about Mikie’s Affordability Agenda, and how it will lower utility bills and prioritize clean energy investments.

Public Safety and Justice

All New Jerseyans have a fundamental right to grow up and live in a safe community. But for too many families, crime has become an all too familiar concern. As governor, I will be squarely focused on keeping our towns and cities safe.

As a mom of four, I know the toll that the threat of gun violence continues to have on our kids and our communities. New Jersey has the seventh strongest gun laws in the nation and as a direct result of these policies, we have the fourth-lowest firearm death rate. I am committed to building on this success by expanding law enforcement efforts to take illegal guns off of our streets, preventing violent criminals from legally purchasing firearms, and enhancing requirements for the safe storage of firearms particularly in places where children are present.

While serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I saw firsthand how developing trust between law enforcement and the communities that they serve, funding smart policing strategies, and investing in evidence-based public services were essential to combating violence and reducing crime. In Congress, I introduced the SAFE NJ package to implement these strategies at the federal level — funding law enforcement initiatives to prevent auto theft, investing in jobs programs for young people, and expanding access to mental health and substance abuse treatment. As governor, I am committed to enacting these evidence-based programs in New Jersey and expanding innovative and proven programs like ARRIVE Together that prioritize mental health services and treatment while reducing use of force.

We must also make sure that police officers have the support and resources they need to be successful. From updating 911 infrastructure to funding license plate readers to combat car theft, in Congress, I have worked closely with law enforcement leaders to provide our police departments the tools that officers require to serve our communities and keep us safe. And I will continue to do just that as governor.

It is also critical that we invest in comprehensive reentry services for individuals in the criminal justice system. A conviction isn’t a life sentence, but we know that recidivism rates are too high. To meaningfully address this, we must ensure that individuals gain real skills, and we must strengthen mental health care and treatment while incarcerated so that they have real educational, housing, and employment opportunities when they reenter our communities. As governor, I want individuals returning to their communities to set positive examples of what it means to not be defined by our worst mistakes. The residents of this state deserve a governor who will prioritize their safety and ensure access to justice for every New Jerseyan.

Innovation and Technology

New Jersey is home to some of the most innovative and competitive companies in the world, drawn by the Garden State’s best-in-the-nation public education system and skilled workforce. New Jersey has historically been at the center of the nation’s innovation economy, but our state is not doing enough to give small businesses the tools to succeed and grow.

I will make state government work better for New Jerseyans by modernizing state agencies and cutting through bureaucracy to save families and businesses time and money, lower costs to taxpayers, and drive our economy forward. To do this, I’ve introduced a plan to cut business and professional license wait times, eliminate business registration fees, reduce delays in the permitting process, and turbocharge the Business Action Center to drive small business success. I’ll reprioritize customer service and hold agencies accountable to transparent, timely, and efficient processes and deadlines.

Additionally, I am committed to making our state the leader in advanced technology research, development, and application once again. New technologies — such as artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and quantum computing — will determine the landscape of the 21st-century global economy, driving economic growth and job creation. In New Jersey, we need to make sure our state takes advantage of this opportunity. As governor, I will modernize and streamline how our state agencies engage with these sectors, and adopt a whole-of-government strategy to support entrepreneurs, develop our startup community, and build out clean energy generation and transmission to boost new technology development and drive affordability for ratepayers.

We also need to protect communities and families from bad actors who seek to exploit new technologies, like AI and deepfakes, to harass school-aged children or scam seniors. Keeping kids safe online is one of my top priorities, and I’ve proudly led the fight in Congress to protect against the use of deepfakes to bully kids in school like we saw right here in New Jersey last year. I will work with the legislature to ensure that New Jersey’s data privacy, harassment, and fraud laws are modernized to crack down on these bad actors and deter them from targeting New Jerseyans.

Working Families & Labor

Like so many New Jerseyans, unions played a vital role in my family reaching the middle class – my grandfather’s UAW job helped him provide incredible opportunities for his children. I wouldn’t be here today without the economic security that unions secured for my family, and New Jersey’s middle class wouldn’t be here without their tireless organizing.

I will be a governor who puts working families’ interests first and always stands up for workers’ organizing and collective bargaining rights. As a Member of Congress, I have joined the picket line and strongly advocated for the fair wages and benefits that workers deserve. In Trenton, I will be committed to giving labor leaders and workers a seat at the table when major decisions are made. I will appoint a strong Commissioner of Labor and Attorney General who will rigorously enforce wage and hour laws and crack down on employers that break Project Labor Agreements and violate New Jerseyans’ labor rights.

As governor, I will also drive investments in sectors like housing, public transit, and energy that create thousands of good-paying union jobs. I will ensure that these state projects involve our unions and include explicit protections for workers to ensure that they are paid good wages and benefits. I will also protect and expand workers’ collective bargaining rights to ensure that they can bargain on wages, benefits, and contracts.

In Trenton, I am also committed to working with labor leaders and workers to drive down healthcare costs through third-party audits of State Health Benefits Plan claims and expanded transparency within healthcare pricing. And I am committed to fully funding our pension system to guarantee that working families can retire with security and dignity. As part of this commitment, I will work to increase the pension’s funded ratio so that retirees can again see cost-of-living adjustments.

I don’t just talk about the importance of labor unions and bargaining rights – I have a track record of delivering real results. I led the fight to get construction underway for the Gateway Tunnel, supporting 95,000 good-paying jobs. I have secured federal funding to replace lead service lines and mitigate the impacts of flooding using union labor. I’ve also stood with workers – from nurses to journalists – as they negotiated for better wages and benefits and have led advocacy in support of their organizing rights. I will be a governor who doesn’t just admire problems or watch from the sidelines – I will fight hard for working families every day.

Transparency and Accountability

New Jersey families work hard for every dollar they earn. But when those dollars are sent to Trenton, taxpayers are all too often left in the dark about how their money is being spent. This lack of transparency weakens public trust and allows waste and inefficiency to go unchecked. Families are expected to manage their household budgets responsibly. It is only fair to demand that the government should do the same.

That’s why, as governor, I’ll launch a first-of-its-kind online “Report Card” where New Jerseyans can track state contracts and grants in plain language. You’ll see where the money goes, what it’s supposed to deliver, and whether it actually does.

The Report Card will provide key information on state programs — what they cost and what they do. State contracts will be posted online, with plain-language updates on whether taxpayers received what they paid for. Just as importantly, this plan will measure outcomes — not just dollars spent. It is time for programs to be evaluated to determine if they actually deliver results for New Jersey families.

This plan has one goal:

to make Trenton answer to the people who pay the bills.

It builds trust, cuts waste, and makes clear that every dollar must be spent wisely, saving money for taxpayers.