BLOOMFIELD - A bustling downtown Mikie Sherrill Campaign headquarters set the scene for this InsiderNJ interview with Democratic State Party Chairman LeRoy Jones, simultaneously the helmsman of the Essex County and East Orange Democratic Party organizations.

Jones appeared placid against the backdrop of young party deck hands working the phones and coordinating instructions just over a month removed from Nov. 4th, Election Day.

The party bosses here classically carry considerable weight in the determination of governors. But in this new era of lineless primaries and a party nominee who built her own operation out of an unlikely Republican-dominant Morris County wilderness, the Jones-Sherrill nexus looks more like a case of political allies united in common cause.

It's actually Jack Ciattarelli, Jones maintains, who has the obvious boss problem, as the Republican nominee for Governor labors under the drag of President Donald Trump, who this week alone told a crowd of generals that he wants to use America's cities as a training ground for the military, and presided over a federal government shutdown because Democrats sought to restore healthcare cuts.

In a statement earlier today, the Chairman said:

“Donald Trump, Jack Ciattarelli, and the NJGOP have no plans to lower costs or address the top concerns of New Jersey families. Instead, they’re focused on playing political games and pushing an agenda that is ripping healthcare away from people and skyrocketing premiums. Trump and his loyalists in Congress refused to negotiate. They refused to utilize their power to help their constituents. They refused to do their jobs and now the government is shut down and Americans will suffer as a result. Meanwhile, Jack has proudly supported these disastrous healthcare cuts and said there’s nothing he disagrees with the president on. Democrats are the only leaders standing up for the health and economic well-being of our families. Republicans must come to the table and end this shutdown.”

Jones elaborated at length, took on the Trump National Archives-led Republican attacks on Mikie Sherrill's military record, the President's plans for the militarization of urban America, affordability, the federal government shutdown, and more below in the (FULL!) InsiderNJ Interview from Essex County: