SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Justin Murphy may be the most anonymous Senate candidate in the nation. Not his fault, you understand.

Murphy, a Republican from Burlington County is not only running in a "blue" state, his opponent, Cory Booker, is a national figure and potential presidential candidate in 2028.

And that, Murphy suggests, can work to his advantage.

While Booker campaigns across the nation, Murphy says he will be campaigning in New Jersey.

To that end, Murphy visited the local American Legion in this Middlesex County town Friday night for a town hall. He was in Mercer County Thursday night and plans to hold at least one town hall in all 21 of the state's counties. About 70 people attended, not bad for a summer evening.

"My opponent is taking the campaign for granted," Murphy said.

That statement rings true in regard to New Jersey Democrats and the media.

But how about with Republicans?

The 4-person Republican Senate primary last month attracted less than 250,000 voters, hardly a sign of soaring GOP voter interest. Murphy won it with about a third of the vote.

Murphy knows the math. But he is also convinced that Republicans have a "better vision" for the state and nation.

“We need ideas and a vision and a backbone to fight for it," he said.

Asked about some of his key issues, Murphy said "affordability."

Time out. Isn't that a Democratic campaign staple?

Not the way Murphy talks about it.

Going back a few years, he reminded the crowd that under Joe Biden, inflation and interest rates were close to 10 percent and at one point in 2022, gas was just about $5 a gallon.

Today, not only have inflation and interest rates dropped considerably, but Murphy said wages and U.S. oil production are up.

Sure, people may be struggling, but he said blame for that lies with the Democrats who run Trenton, not Donald Trump in the White House.

Murphy, who calls himself a pro-life, Reagan Republican, says "parental rights" are a big issue and that so-called sanctuary cities should be penalized, perhaps financially. And he supports the SAVE Act in regard to election integrity.

Close observers of New Jersey politics will remember Jack Ciattarelli saying much of the same in last year's gubernatorial race. But he lost by 15 points.

Not particularly bothered by that, Murphy looked for some recent good news.

Trump, he said, came very close to winning New Jersey in 2024 when he got almost 2 million votes. And despite his loss, Ciattarelli did get about 150,000 more votes last year than he did in 2021. There are also more than 1.6 million registered Republicans in New Jersey, the most ever.

"There is some good news out there that we need to see people focused on, inspired by, motivated by," he said during a break.

Murphy acknowledged voters who simply dislike Trump are not going to vote for him. He also knows that turnout in a midterm election, sadly, tends to be low - often less than 50 percent.

So his challenge is easy to say, but not easy to accomplish. That would be motivating those who may not normally vote in a midterm. As Murphy said:

"If we can get organized and energized and present a conservative platform, I think people will respond to that."