Editor's Note - Here are campaign observations in the wake of Wednesday's debate.

Is the race for governor about to get really nasty?

Sure, some nastiness began a few weeks ago when Mikie Sherrill's personal info - Social Security number included - was released in error to a Jack Ciattarelli supporter seeking info on the congresswoman. That was a big blunder and the National Archives has apologized.

The upshot is that Sherrill did not "walk" with her Naval Academy graduating class in 1994. Why not? She says she was punished for not snitching on students suspected of cheating.

Ciattarelli has not run away from that info, its poisonous origin notwithstanding. In fact, he maintains - and he did again at Wednesday's debate - that Sherrill's transgression must have been more serious than just not reporting fellow students.

He is saying that, but, in truth, he has no facts to support that - only speculation.

At the debate, Sherrill went further with a personal attack. She said Ciattarelli has been responsible for opioid deaths.

The Republican candidate once owned a medical publishing firm that printed - guess what - articles about the industry.

One such article suggested that opioid use, or misuse, did not pose a great risk to patients. That may have been the thinking at the time, but things soon changed.

At any rate, it's a stretch to connect Ciattarelli to opioid misuse and deaths on the strength of an article published in a medical journal, even if he owned it..

But it's the nature of politics today. On both sides.

To that point, one often hears at Republican gatherings that Phil Murphy "killed" people in nursing homes during the pandemic.

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It's not unusual for politicians to criticize journalists, or even want them to be fired.

But here's an interesting twist.

Sherrill is asking the NJEA  to dismiss a writer who wrote a favorable article about her.

The October issue of the NJEA Review, a monthly magazine of the state teachers' union, has a glowing article about Sherrill. It wraps up thusly:
"For Sherrill, the mission is clear: to build a future where families can thrive, workers are respected and every child has the chance to succeed."

The NJEA endorsed Sherrill, so a positive article in its periodical is to be expected.

The author of the article is Aiat Oraby, the magazine's editor And she, apparently, has a past.

Here is the congresswoman's statement:

"I’m outraged by Ms. Oraby’s antisemitic, pro-Hamas social media posts. This is unacceptable and the NJEA needs to immediately act and fire her from this position. An individual with bigoted views has no place as an editor of a magazine distributed to our state’s teachers. We all have a responsibility to call out antisemitism and religious bigotry when we see it and that’s exactly what I will do as governor.”
Oraby's posts were highlighted a few days ago by the New Jersey Public Education Coalition.
The story has spread rapidly since then.
Besides Sherrill's comments, Rep. Josh Gottheimer sent the NJEA a lengthy letter about Oraby and her posts, some of which he said were in Arabic.

Here is part of what he said:

"Among her most alarming public social media posts, Ms. Oraby posted on X an undeniably antisemitic quote directly calling Jews filthy. This post has since been deleted. Here it is:
“[Egyptian President] Sisi is filthier than the Jews”
Here is another post cited by Gottheimer:

"In January 2024, on X, Ms. Oraby explicitly called for violence against Israeli leaders:
O God, turn their bodies into pieces that cannot be reunited, and do not give them strength, and do not raise their heads or those who help them. Amen.”

A NJEA spokesperson has been quoted as saying they are looking into the matter.

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How's the mail-in ballot count going?
As of Thursday, registered Democrats have returned 149,179 ballots compared to 54,634 for Republicans.

This is par for the course. Republicans, however, are returning ballots at a higher rate - 30.7 percent compared to 28.5 for the Dems, But, as usual, Democrats have requested so many more ballots.

This, according to VoteHub, a nonpartisan research organization.