COLUMBUS - Mikie Sherrill and her running mate Dale Caldwell created buzz at the Burlington County Fair this evening when the two of them showed up here and campaigned with local and county Democratic Party candidates.

"This campaign is all about delivering for people, driving down costs, making sure the middle class has opportunity, and our kids can thrive here, and that is why I'm so excited about Dale," Sherrill said. "Dale has spent a lifetime serving the people of New Jersey, as an educator, and as a pastor - again and again showing up for people and that is the opposite of what you're seeing across the aisle, whether it's cutting health insurance, the cost of housing prices, and utility rates. That's not who we are. I'll even stand up to my own party while Jack Ciattarelli says there is not one thing he can think about that he disagrees with Donald Trump about."

InsiderNJ asked Caldwell why he believes in Sherrill's gubernatorial candidacy.

"Leadership," said the Democratic educator, president of Centenary University. "You look at her record - the military and Congress. That's leadership."

He added:

"I ran the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship... and so we have more experience with small business than the Ciattarelli ticket ever had. We are more of what Republicans are than they say they are when it comes to small businesses."

Asked about what he sees as the gravest threat from the Trump Administration to New Jerseyans, Caldwell said, "One is the threat to human dignity. The reality is we as United States citizens deserve dignity. If you commit a crime, you should do the time. But the reality is in New Jersey we care about all people."

The LG candidate added that it won't be enough for Sherrill and Caldwell to defeat Ciattarelli and Jim Gannon, who have the backing of President Trump.

"We want to win by double digits," said Sherrill's running mate. "We want to show Trump that his influence doesn't matter here."

The crowd - which included Assemblywoman Andrea Katz (D-8), pictured above, and top, left, and Burlington County Commissioner Randy Brolo, below, far right - liked the remark.

A longtime union leader with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Commissioner Brolo in a show of solidarity with the statewide ticket presented Caldwell with a Laborers' T-shirt.

The Laborers backed Sherrill early in the Democratic Primary.

After Sherrill and Caldwell hit the tent where fellow party members gathered, they promptly made their way into the thick of the crowd, amid the clang and shriek of thrill-seekers and fun-lovers.

It was Lieutenant Governor candidate Caldwell's first day on the trail, as he joined the Democratic nominee for governor and appeared well-footed as he bounded into crowds of Saturday evening fair revelers.