One week to go

Good morning!

We’re one week out from Election Day and Cory Booker is fired up.

Booker, a Democrat seeking a third full term next week against Republican Justin Murphy, was in Flemington Monday night for a get-out-the-vote rally that also featured fellow Democrat Rebecca Bennett, who is hoping to unseat GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr.

“We are in crisis right now as a nation,” Booker said. “We are seeing the American dream slip away from us. But I believe that this election is the start of the process where we redeem the dream of America.”

Our own Dana DiFilippo was there, and said Booker spoke for about half an hour, touching on Trump’s mass deportation crackdown, civil rights leaders marching for voting rights, Hurricane Sandy, the Obamas, the war in Iran, corruption, COVID-19, healthcare, and even George Washington crossing the Delaware. Caffeinated much?

With Democrats hoping to seize control of Congress, Booker told the crowd to get out and vote.

“I want you to leave here walking out with some Jersey swagger. I want you to walk out of here saying, ‘What I do for these next eight days matter,’” he said. “When you stand up for what is just and right, no one stands in vain. And so we take back the House. We take back the Senate. The pathway to that goes right through our state.”

Read more from Dana.

More: Nikita Biryukov looked at early voting data and found good news for Democrats and grim news for Republicans. Compared to last year, Democrats are gaining in early voting and Republicans’ numbers have divebombed. GOP officials are not pleased. “In speaking with some other Republican chairs throughout the state, there’s a concern about it,” Ocean County GOP Chair George Gilmore told Nikita. “People are a little nervous.” The party’s Cape May chair, Mike Donohue, noted that it’s still early. “It’s good for the Democrats, but I think it’s like calling a game in the second inning,” he said.

Poll: Likely New Jersey voters favor Democratic congressional candidates over Republicans 55% to 32%, per a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. Voters are driven by concerns about affordability and gas prices, while gains the GOP made among Hispanic and younger voters two years ago have largely evaporated. “There just isn’t any good news to be found for Republican candidates this cycle,” said Dan Cassino, the poll’s director. “There are some issues that are better for Republicans than others, but voters just don’t care about them as much, and the issues that are driving voters are helping Democrats.”

LGBTQ: Our own Anne-Marie Caruso has the third video in her “Who I Am Meant To Be” series focusing on the lives of transgender New Jerseyans. This one stars Jennifer Love Williams, a performer who uses her stint at an all-male prison to help those behind bars reenter society.

Cranford: Lawyers for Vincent Battiloro, 18, who is accused in the hit-and-run deaths of two 17-year-old girls in Cranford, suggested their client would be leaning on an insanity defense and said they would seek a new venue for any trial, report Alexa Herrera and Christine Sloan at CBS New York. The victims’ families said they “will fight like hell” for justice.

West New York: John Heinis at Hudson County View has details on the new contract for West New York’s schools superintendent, Clara Brito Herrera, which tops out at $394,507. The notable thing here — besides the eye-popping salary for a district with ~7,300 students — is the school district refused to hand over the obviously public document to John until he got a lawyer to intervene. Shameful and illegal behavior on behalf of the public officials in that Hudson County town.

Trump: A federal appeals panel in California on Monday rejected Trump’s effort to force California not to vote 20,000 ballots the Trump administration says could be from noncitizens. In the 2-1 decision, the majority wrote that the appeals court lacked jurisdiction over the case because the DOJ “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider” the request.