The great drone scare will flip New Jersey red in 2025

Look, up in the sky! It's a drone! It's a plane! It's a red wave! 

Elections are often won by little things, and from my vantage point in New Jersey, there are lots of big things over the skies of the Garden State terrorizing families and communities. Caller after caller on my radio show wants to talk about one thing: drones. Well, two things. Drones and the absolute distrust in the Democratic-controlled government on the state and federal level. 

This has become a major issue in the 2025 race for New Jersey governor. Democrats in power are gaslighting us, and the Republican candidates are seizing the moment to offer the kind of message that propelled President-elect Trump to victory. Make New Jersey's skies safe again!

As a former New Jersey Republican county chairman and elected official, I have seen firsthand how Jersey tends to vote blue in even years but red in odd years. Along with Virginia, New Jersey is one of two states that will have a gubernatorial race in 2025. President Biden and Gov. Phil Murphy's lack of action on the mysterious flying objects, combined with Trump’s performance this past November, may propel a Republican into the governor's office once again.

DRONE DEBACLE PERFECT END TO BIDEN’S 'YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW' PRESIDENCY

Several Republicans are vying for the nomination, and they are putting out statements that vary from declaring a state of emergency to banning personal drone use to calling up the New Jersey National Guard to blow them out of the sky. These candidates demonstrate a strong contrast with the feckless, term-limited incumbent. 

The Democrats vying for their party's nomination are in a political catch-22. Criticize their own party's incompetence or keep their head down. Democrat Congressman Frank Pallone said he attended a classified briefing but can't tell us anything. Democratic Sen. Andy Kim went out with a news crew to observe them firsthand. What do you know? It turns out we aren't crazy after all.

Murphy first said these drones pose no threat; then he said he's powerless to do anything. Let's face it: he's more interested in the skies over Iowa than the skies over Jersey, as he plans to run for president in 2028.

AMERICA HAS A DRONE PROBLEM, AND NO ONE IS IN CHARGE

Contrast that with the statement made by New Jersey's most famous summer resident, Donald Trump, who saw images of them flying over Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, "Let the public know, and now, otherwise shoot them down!!!" That is precisely the definitive leadership Jerseyans crave at this incredibly unsettling moment. 

Trump's statement was as Jersey as it gets, and it's what I have been hearing on my radio show four hours a day, five days a week. Tell us the truth, or shoot them out of the sky! 

Even for this administration, the level of gaslighting is remarkable. We are told they haven't gone over any sensitive areas. Officials at two highly sensitive areas, Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, say the opposite. We are told they pose no threat… but call in a hazmat team if one crashes in your backyard! We are told not to believe our own eyes just like we were told not to believe our own eyes when we witnessed Joe Biden's cognitive decline. 

We Jerseyans are cynical by nature, but we have reached our breaking point. We know that they know. So give us a break and stop being so condescending.

WE ARE VULNERABLE TO DRONE ATTACK AND IT’S GOING TO GET WORSE

New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country, with a large constituency of union workers, Latinos and Black voters. The same demographic that helped deliver Pennsylvania for Trump. He won Passaic County, once a Democratic stronghold. 

Trump also over-performed with suburban White women. Their frustration is years in the making. They were told they could be domestic violent extremists for speaking up at school board meetings. Now, they are told to relax as their kids ask about those massive flashing objects moving in pattern formation that disappear when approached by State Police helicopters.

Before the 2021 gubernatorial race, I talked with a friend who said he wasn't voting because Murphy had a 99% chance of winning re-election. I told him it would be close and the polls were wrong. The Republican, Jack Ciattarelli, came within a few points of defeating Murphy because a couple hundred thousand Republicans had the same mindset as my friend and stayed home.

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On election night in 2024, that same friend waited in line to vote for several hours after Jersey was called for Vice President Kamala Harris. I asked him why. "I want to make sure Trump wins the popular vote," he proudly replied. 

Republicans have learned their lesson and won't be repeating past mistakes. They feel the momentum, even in blue New Jersey. The drones have now become a symbol of Democratic gaslighting, inaction and arrogance. In the words of a great New Jerseyan, come November, we won't fuggetabaoutit.