LAWRENCEVILLE - The crowd was loud, engaged and at times, disruptive.

The candidates, though, not so much.

Meeting Sunday night for their first debate, Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli each got in a few zingers, but as debates go, this one was rather tame.

At least between Jack and Mikie.

The debate at Rider University attracted an estimated 1,500 people to the university's gym - an impressive turnout. Moderator Laura Jones instructed the crowd to basically keep quiet during the proceedings.

That didn't happen.

It wasn't just cheering. There were many boos and occasional shouts of "Liar" when candidates spoke.

One man yelled out "Bullshit" while Sherrill was speaking. She actually responded from the stage, telling people to control themselves - "There are children here."

You can call the juvenile antics just another sign of the times.

When the 90-minute interaction began, Sherrill was immediately asked about observations she is not well versed on state issues.

She responded by talking about her plan to declare a "state of emergency" on Day One for energy costs and to make the state more transparent by putting more info online.

Ciattarelli said her approach was merely "platitudes and generalities."

Afterwards, he told reporters that he answered the questions during the debate and that Sherrill did not.

Donald Trump is not running, but he was certainly in the room, so to speak.

Sherrill quickly brought up a central theme - Ciattarelli is a Trump acolyte. She challenged him to say

where he disagrees with the president.

Ciattarelli really did not go there. But he did talk about the good things he said Trump has done for New Jersey, He said they included opposition to wind farms off the Jersey shore, opposition to congestion pricing in New York City and increasing the deduction cap for state and local taxes, or SALT.

Later in the debate, Ciattarelli said he has been as independent as any Republican in New Jersey, adding that he called for Chris Christie to resign as governor in his second term as he (Christie) was traveling the country regarding a presidential run.

Sherrill was not impressed, saying Ciattarelli will never stand up to Trump.

During a question and answer section following the debate, Sherrill was asked about her willingness to stand up to her party and to Democratic bosses.

She said she has done that throughout her career, apparently referring to her refusal to support Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House.

If there is an overriding New Jersey issue, it is property taxes.

By any objective look, the problem is a simple fact - New Jersey has too much local government. Too many police chiefs, school superintendents and other muckety-mucks in small towns making large sums of money.

Clearly, consolidating towns and school districts is a must.

Probably not going to happen.

Sherrill did say she wanted more shared services and, if possible, county-based school systems.

Ciattarelli was not about to budge. He said people seem to like "home rule" even if it costs them more in property taxes.

On New Jersey Transit, another perennial issue, Sherrill stressed her work in securing funding for the Gateway Tunnel, a new rail tunnel to Manhattan.

Ciattarelli was a bit vague here, talking about consolidating all the state's toll roads and transit systems under one authority to improve efficiency.

A Republican position across the country is opposition to transgender women playing women sports.

That specific question didn't come up, but in a general question about health, Ciattarelli, quite deftly, brought up his opposition to the concept of "men playing women's sports."

In ads, Sherrill claims Ciattarelli is open to raising the sales tax (now 6.625 percent) to 10 percent; he calls that charge a lie.

Likewise, Sherrill said the same about a Ciattarelli contention she has made millions in stock trading while serving in Congress.

It is always worth wondering if debates change minds. This one probably didn't.

No candidate, for example, said anything really stupid.

Moreover, in these times, there are not all that many undecideds.

Some of the questions were posed by students, including one by a middle schooler who asked about honesty.

He prefaced his query by saying despite his young age, he has already seen a U.S. senator from the state go to jail.

Talk about an Only in Jersey moment.