Booker and Murphy clash over Iran war in New Jersey Senate debate

Right · 2Sen. Cory Booker, a two-term New Jersey Democrat, and Republican challenger Justin Murphy, a former local official, clashed over the Iran war in a Senate debate on Thursday 8 October. 1 2 Right · 2The debate was held in Lawrenceville, N.J., sponsored by the New Jersey Globe and Rider University, with David Wildstein as moderator. 1 2 Right · 1Booker said New Jerseyans are paying for the decision by Israel and the United States to go to war with Iran, and called it likely to "go down in history as one of the most colossally stupid things the president has ever done." 1

Right · 1According to JNS, he cited American soldiers killed, billions of dollars spent, higher gasoline prices and the effectively closed Strait of Hormuz, and said Trump and Israel "rushed into this war with no conceivable end game." 1 Right · 2Murphy defended the war, saying Iran must be blocked from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is a "radical terrorist organization." 1 2 Right · 2Asked what he would tell Trump if the president called for advice, Murphy answered "Finish that war in a positive manner" and urged Trump to "put your cowboy hat on and get out there and kick some a--." The line drew applause. 2 1

Right · 1Fox News reported that Booker mouthed "Wow," then called it the kind of "Yahoo" foreign policy that has mired the US in Middle East wars and asked what it had done to the country's treasury. 2 Right · 1Booker joked that the question concerned someone who had said "I know more than my generals," and said New Jersey has known Trump for years because he "bankrupted our casinos." 2 Right · 1Murphy called Israel "a great ally of ours," but when asked how he differed from Trump, said he wanted the president to be "a little harder on Israel" over settlers whom he said were attacking Palestinians and burning homes. 1

Right · 1JNS noted that Booker received $1.3 million from pro-Israel donors, per OpenSecrets, including $818,206 from AIPAC. It said he has stopped taking AIPAC money as part of a decision to refuse all PAC contributions, and that he broke with AIPAC in 2015 by voting for the Iran nuclear deal. 1 Right · 1Fox News noted that New Jersey has trended redder, with Trump flipping key areas in 2024, but that no Republican has won a US Senate election there since 1972. It also said Murphy raised illegal immigration, citing a case involving a Guatemalan man. 2