Ducking debates

Good morning!

It’s Labor Day in a week, which means this year’s congressional campaigns are about to go into overdrive.

What most of them are not going to do is agree to debates hosted by the League of Women Voters. The century-old nonpartisan group has long hosted candidate forums to let voters make educated choices at the ballot box, but House candidates are increasingly ducking the group’s debate invitations.

Jesse Burns, who heads the league in New Jersey, told Dana DiFilippo that the trend is equal parts troubling and baffling.

“We have refusals across the state right now,” Burns said. “We’re just looking to provide information to voters so that we can increase voter turnout and have voters feel confident that they have the information they need to cast a ballot and actually understand what candidates’ policies are and not just the party that follows their name.”

GOP officials in Cape May County told Republicans there to avoid league debates altogether. The county’s Republican chair, Michael Donohue, told Dana he does not regard the group’s Cape May chapter as nonpartisan. He also said he questions the value of debates in 2026.

“Debates end up being just a discussion to your supporters,” he said. “There’s rarely any serious substance in these things, and even if they ask questions that should get substantive answers, typically the candidates just pivot back to some hot-button issue that they want to push to the base. We’re in this Twitter/X moment, and everybody just wants these little sound bites.”

Read more from Dana.

ICYMI: From Friday, the Trump administration has said it is appealing its loss in the Gateway tunnel funding case to the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. New Jersey and New York sued when the feds cut off congressionally approved federal aid for the $16 billion project to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, and a judge in June sided with the states. Spokespeople for New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul predicted Trump will lose this time, too. “Thousands of workers and 200,000 daily riders are relying on the Gateway Tunnel project, and Governor Sherrill will keep fighting Trump’s illegal attempts to stop it,” Sherrill spokesman Sean Higgins said.

Food safety: In the good old days, grocery shopping was simply an annoying chore. Then in recent years it became annoying and budget-busting. Now, with every item you pick, you have to wonder, Is this going to kill me? Anna Claire Vollers looks at the summer of food recalls, with everything from jalapenos to beef to lettuce to blueberries making a trip down the aisle a stomach-churning experience, sometimes literally.

Schools: Julie O’Connor at NJ Spotlight News has a good one today about Newark’s school district awarding a $700K contract to a funeral home director so she can train students in … hotel and food-service business leadership. Notably, contract winner Carolyn Whigham of Whigham Funeral Home handled the services for the late mother of Newark Schools Superintendent Roger León. Also notably, the school district redacted large portions of Whigham’s proposal before giving it to O’Connor because all this is obviously very top secret stuff.