Making New Jersey Affordable For Everyone
One of our top priorities is building a stronger and fairer New Jersey with an economy that works for and benefits everyone – especially those previously shut out of participation.
How New Jersey Democrats Have Delivered:
- Passed the historic ANCHOR Property Tax Relief Program into law which delivers tax relief directly to nearly 2 million homeowners and renters across the state.
- Raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 for most employees ensuring that our most vulnerable populations can put food on their table
- Enacted historic school funding as well as investments in higher education and vocational training.
- Enacted a Child Tax credit, which proves that New Jersey is the best state to raise a family.
- Set aside over $6 billion to ensure that New Jersey is prepared to face any unforeseen downturns.
What New Jersey Democrats Are Fighting For:
- An economy that benefits all people, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, citizenship, or any other differentiating factor.
- Eliminating the wage gap and ensuring equal pay for equal work.
- The strength of our unions and workers’ right to organize in the workplace for better working conditions, benefits, and wages. New Jersey is always #UnionStrong.
- Our small businesses, which make up 99.6% of all businesses in the state. We believe in the innovation and vibrancy small businesses bring to New Jersey and we believe in expanding the access and capability for all New Jerseyans to start and maintain their small businesses.
Protecting The Right To Choose
In New Jersey, Democrats have always been on the frontline of the fight to keep a woman’s reproductive choices out of the government’s hands.We believe the decision to receive abortion care is a healthcare decision that should only be made between a person and their doctor–not by the government.
How New Jersey Democrats Have Delivered:
- Made abortion legal in New Jersey. While five members of the Supreme Court and Republicans both in our state and around the country continue to fight to eliminate our personal freedoms, New Jersey codified the right to choose into state law. New Jerseyans will always have the freedom to make their own health care decisions without government interference.
- Protected individuals who receive or perform abortion services in New Jersey from being extradited if they are at risk of prosecution in their own state.
- Passed a law prohibiting public agencies from assisting in any out-of-state criminal investigations into anyone who receives or performs abortion care services in New Jersey..
What New Jersey Democrats Are Fighting For:
- Unobstructed access to abortion care and reproductive planning for every person in New Jersey.
- Protection of out of state individuals who come here to exercise their right to make their own decisions about their body without government interference, and the health care professionals who treat them.
Affordable Healthcare For All
New Jersey Democrats believe that healthcare is a right. Everyone should have equal access to quality, affordable medical care, dental care, mental health care, and prescription medications – regardless of income or work status.
How New Jersey Democrats Have Delivered:
- Expanded access to Medicaid to ensure that the highest number of New Jerseyans will have access to healthcare services – with nearly 770,000 people enrolling between 2013 and 2021.
- Established the New Jersey Easy Enrollment Health Insurance Program to help the uninsured and underinsured navigate the health insurance marketplace in an effort to reduce barriers and make coverage more accessible.
- Negotiated, fought, and voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which caps senior’s annual out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000, extends ACA benefits through 2025, and allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.
What New Jersey Democrats Are Fighting For:
- The Affordable Care Act to remain the law of the land, even as Republicans across the country work to dismantle it. We want more Americans covered by affordable healthcare, not fewer.
- Medicaid and Medicare to remain fully funded to ensure that our most vulnerable populations can receive the healthcare services they need.
- To continue to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for every person in New Jersey.
Reducing The Threat Of Gun Violence
New Jersey has always been a national leader in curbing gun violence and promoting gun safety. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, New Jersey ranks 8th in the country for gun law safety. This is not an accident – Democrats have put in the work at every level of our government to ensure that New Jerseyans will be safe from gun violence.
How New Jersey Democrats Have Delivered:
- Enacted sweeping common-sense gun safety laws to protect our New Jersey communities from the rising epidemic of mass shootings and gun violence.
- Required comprehensive background checks that have proven to help keep guns out of the wrong hands.
- Prioritized the safety of women, a group at higher risk of domestic gun violence, by disarming abusive partners or stalkers and prohibiting them from obtaining weapons.
What New Jersey Democrats Are Fighting For:
- Safer communities, safer schools, safer lives. We will not allow Republicans in New Jersey to overturn the progress that has been made in getting dangerous weapons off New Jersey streets and away from dangerous people.
- To continue to be a leader in the nation for what fair and robust common-sense gun safety legislation looks like.
Environmental and Climate Justice
Democrats in New Jersey believe in the existential threat of climate change and are committed to decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels, increasing renewable energy sources and taking preventative measures to protect New Jerseyans from the effects of climate change.
How New Jersey Democrats Have Delivered:
- Fought and voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate legislation in U.S. history, that increases investments in renewable energy, enhances energy efficiency, and will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Created incentives to both households and businesses to make the change to electric vehicles and adopt wind, solar, and other renewable energy technologies.
- Made New Jersey the first state in the nation to incorporate climate change education, across K-12.
What New Jersey Democrats Are Fighting For:
- Full support of a clean energy economy with increased investment in the clean energy job market – creating opportunities for employment in “green jobs” while moving our energy reliance to renewable resources.
- Continue to fund the Charge Up New Jersey program that offers incentives for New Jerseyans to make the switch to electric vehicles and at-home chargers.
- Support for New Jerseyans experiencing the effects of climate change on our weather, shorelines, and ecosystem.
- Keeping New Jersey on a path to 100% clean energy by 2050.
High Quality Accessible Public Education
New Jersey Democrats believe in the right of every New Jersey child to have access to a high quality public education, regardless of their zip code, financial status, race, gender, or sexual orientation. We also believe in making higher education more accessible and affordable.
How New Jersey Democrats Have Delivered:
- Making historic investments in K-12 public education and college affordability programs, and stabilizing school districts from budget cuts.
- Making significant investments in higher education infrastructure and affordability, including working towards making community college free and four-year college more affordable.
- Expanded state-funded full-day preschool across the state with the goal of Universal Preschool within the next several years.
What New Jersey Democrats Are Fighting For:
- Keep New Jersey public schools ranked as best in the nation for overall student success.
- Maintain honest, accurate, and factual curricula for NJ students in the face of GOP attempts to censor and alter what is being taught in public schools across the nation.
- Continue to address the economic and racial funding gaps that have negatively impacted students for too long so that every NJ child receives an equally high-quality education, no matter where they live.