New Jersey's Murphy echoes Sanders in Democratic bid for governor
OCTOBER 23, 2017 / 7:12 AM / UPDATED 37 MINUTES AGO
Excerpts:
EDISON, N.J. (Reuters) - Phil Murphy, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs investment banker, might seem an unlikely champion of the working and middle classes.
But New Jersey’s Democratic candidate for governor, who leads Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno by double digits in polls, has pushed to increase taxes for corporations and the rich to pay for a plethora of populist policy proposals: tuition-free community college, increased school funding and tax credits for families.
Murphy’s stance reflects the national party’s leftward shift, following Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ insurgent primary campaign last year against eventual presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Like Sanders, Murphy has focused his message on a “fairer” economy, vowing to help the middle, not the moneyed, class. He highlights his working-class childhood as proof he understands financial struggle. He has backed a $15 minimum wage, proposed a public bank to provide low-interest loans to residents and promised to force “corporations, hedge funds and the wealthiest among us” to pay their fair share.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-jersey-election/new-jerseys-murphy-echoes-sanders-in-democratic-bid-for-governor-idUSKBN1CS1D4