At tonight’s Somerset county debate, each freeholder candidate asked the other a question, and immediately after the contest incumbent Republican Freeholder Pat Walsh and Democratic challenger Melonie Marano both identified that moment as pivotal.

InsiderNJ asked both candidates in this control countywide election (if Walsh loses and Marano wins, the board would become 3-2 Democrat) about that moment.

Democrats are trying to make the election about President Donald J. Trump, who has the GOP in cover-up mode here in the Central Jersey county that is also home to Trump’s Bedminster Golf Course.

Here is the response by Walsh, who strove to keep focused on county issues: