The race for New Jersey governor has taken a sharp, unexpected turn less than a month before Election Day with the opioid crisis taking center stage amid explosive charges by the Democratic nominee, Representative Mikie Sherrill.
The latest twist in the race came on Monday when Ms. Sherrill, joined by a substance abuse counselor and a man whose brother overdosed on prescription painkillers, again blamed her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, for spreading misinformation about opioids.
Her words were far more nuanced than the stunning assertion she made last week during a debate in which she accused Mr. Ciattarelli of being responsible for the deaths of “tens of thousands of people.”
But her central claim was unchanged: that a medical publication company that Mr. Ciattarelli owned until 2017 had made it easier for people to get prescription opioids.
During Wednesday’s debate, Ms. Sherrill said: “You killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda and then getting paid to develop an app so that people could more easily get the opioids once they were addicted.”
“You then went on to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children,” she added.
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The post Opioid Deaths Suddenly Dominate a Governor’s Race. Here’s What We Know. appeared first on New York Times.
