Like almost all political firestorms in the Trump era, this one began on social media.
The Trump administration announced on X earlier this month that it would be suspending $18 billion in funding for New York City infrastructure projects, including the Gateway Tunnel project, which involves building two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, connecting the city to New Jersey.
Less than two hours later, Representative Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, seized on the decision. She promised to “fight this tooth-and-nail and sue the Trump administration,” and contrasted herself with her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, who she said had pledged to never take the Trump administration to court. (Mr. Ciattarelli has said his attorney general would not sue President Trump over executive orders, though not if he would sue over Gateway.)
A day later, Mr. Ciattarelli responded, claiming that Ms. Sherrill’s vote against the Republican plan to keep the government open was a vote against the Gateway project.
Two weeks later, Mr. Trump announced that the rail project had been “terminated.” Both candidates pounced. Ms. Sherrill again tied her opponent to the decision, while Mr. Ciattarelli said he would have a better chance of working with Trump administration officials to change their minds.
Often, infrastructure issues take a back seat in political campaigns, discussed in broad platitudes with undefined timelines. But in New Jersey and New York City, the issue of the Gateway Project is visceral. Transit delays caused by problems in the existing century-old tunnels are a burden of daily life for residents in the northern part of the state who work in the city. The Gateway Project is considered a critical solution. And not only for the future, but the present: The project supports 11,000 construction-related jobs in the area and $4.5 billion in economic activity, according to the Gateway Development Commission.
In this tightening political race, the project has quickly become a lifeline of sorts for Ms. Sherrill. Despite leading in most polls, she has seen the race tighten since the summer and has been fending off a disciplined and relentless opponent in Mr. Ciattarelli.
“New Jerseyans know how important mass transit is to New Jersey’s economy and its way of life and well being,” said Ashley Koning, the director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, adding that residents have expressed concerns about the current tunnels in polling throughout the past decade.
“If Sherrill can land the message home, especially with two weeks until Election Day, in a way that is comprehensible to voters, in a tangible way that they can understand, it can certainly do some damage for Ciattarelli’s campaign,” Ms. Koning said.
Ever since the Trump administration announced that Gateway was in danger, Ms. Sherrill has been relentless. Her campaign account on X has mentioned Gateway in 17 separate posts this month. She corralled national Democratic leaders like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan to join her advocacy to “fix the damn tunnel.” And it has become a core part of her stump speech.
The morning after Mr. Trump announced he was terminating the project, Ms. Sherrill held a news conference at the Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station, the final rail stop before the Hudson River tunnels.
Surrounded by labor leaders, local officials and commuters, Ms. Sherrill pitched herself as “the tunnel obsessed congresswoman.” She framed Mr. Trump’s decision to terminate the Gateway project as evidence that Mr. Ciattarelli would have no sway with the White House.
“I don’t think there’s anything that’s a little more telling about the kind of power Jack Ciattarelli would have with the president than the fact that 19 days until his election, the president’s punched him in the face like this,” she said.
The decision by the Trump administration to potentially torpedo the biggest infrastructure project in the country has put Mr. Ciattarelli in a bind. He has run a very deliberate campaign of appeasing the president and his supporters while also carving out his own lane as an affordability-obsessed, third-generation New Jersey resident.
Mr. Ciattarelli’s first response was to call for patience, noting that the initial suspension of funding from the Trump administration did not imperil the immediate construction, which was already funded and would go on for weeks.
“The Gateway project is paid for by the Gateway Commission, which then turns around and seeks reimbursement from the federal government,” Mr. Ciattarelli said in an interview earlier this month, before Mr. Trump “terminated” the project. “So it’s not like the checking account suddenly went dry at the Gateway commission. So this shutdown would have to go on for a very long time before that project would stop.”
Since Mr. Trump’s “terminated” comments, Mr. Ciattarelli has been forced to put a little daylight between himself and the president, though he has done so delicately.
“New Jersey needs a Governor who has the standing to work with, and when necessary disagree with, the President and advocate for New Jersey’s fair share of federal tax dollars — including the Gateway Tunnel,” Mr. Ciattarelli wrote on X. “This is a critical infrastructure project and I will fight to get it done.”
It is the only mention of Gateway on Mr. Ciattarelli’s social media feed since Mr. Trump’s “terminated” comments. And while Gateway has never been a major part of Mr. Ciattarelli’s stump speech in these closing months, he has not added the project since the shutdown and Mr. Trump’s comments injected infrastructure squarely into the governor’s race.
In a brief interview after a rally on Wednesday night, Mr. Ciattarelli said that he saw Mr. Trump’s comments about terminating the project as part of “hardball negotiations to try to get the Democrats to work with the Republicans to open up our government,” and that current funding would not run out for one or two months, during which time he expects the shutdown to be resolved.
“It’s critically important to the region, and the region’s economy is critically important to the national economy,” Mr. Ciattarelli said. “The president knows that.”
Michael Hellstrom Jr., vice president and eastern regional manager of the Laborers’ International Union of North America and a supporter of Ms. Sherrill, estimated that there was enough current funding for about 45 days of construction dating to Mr. Trump’s “terminated” comments. Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Gateway Development Commission, said, “We continue to be focused on keeping the project on schedule and on budget,” but declined to offer a timeline of how much longer the project could continue without federal funding resuming.
Despite the funding calendar and the president’s comments, Mr. Ciattarelli was adamant that Gateway would not end.
“That project, come hell or high water, will be completed,” he said.
Tracey Tully and Matthew Haag contributed reporting.
Nick Corasaniti is a Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections.
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