(upbeat music) - From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Good evening and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

Coming up in the broadcast, the race is on.

We talk with CD7 candidate Brian Varela about standing out in a crowded field of candidates in New Jersey's most competitive house race.

Plus, Trenton's lead testing in limbo.

A new investigation looks at the challenges in one neighborhood to keep residents informed.

And later, Jeopardy champ and New Jersey native, Jamie Ding joins us to talk about his epic run on the show.

First though, a check of the top headlines from Joanna Gagis.

Jo.

- Thanks, Brie.

Well, today marks 100 days since Governor Mikey Sherrill first took office.

It's a milestone that many first-time governors use to highlight their early accomplishments and set the stage for what's to come.

Governor Sherrill held a press conference today to tout some of her achievements, which include a focus on lowering energy costs, increasing housing development, taking the Trump administration to court when she feels their policies are hurting New Jersey residents, like the Gateway Tunnel Project lawsuit, and working to make it easier for businesses to operate here in New Jersey.

Here's some of what she had to say.

We've already approved six new solar and battery storage projects in my first two months.

Projects that had been lingering for about a year.

We're modernizing natural gas facilities and I just signed a bill, thank you to our legislature, that ended the 50-year moratorium on nuclear power.

[applause] More power means more supply, more jobs, and lower costs.

And then to lower housing for everyone, my budget protects the Affordable Housing Trust Fund so we can use that money as it was intended to build housing that's affordable across our state.

Sheryl also announced a new pilot program launching today that will accept 10 businesses to participate in a new online permitting dashboard that her administration created.

It's a promise she made on the campaign trail to create a site where businesses can see where they are in the permitting process.

She was joined by her chief operating officer, Kelly Doucette, to explain that the pilot program will allow businesses to share feedback with them on where and how the permitting and approval process can speed up and just improve overall.

Interested businesses can apply by going to permits.nj.gov.

And another major ruling from the U.S.

Supreme Court this week, a decision that will reshape how voting rights are enforced across the country.

In a six to three ruling, the high court struck down Louisiana's congressional map that it created a second majority black district.

The court's conservative majority said Louisiana went too far, relied too heavily on race, writing in the decision that race alone can't justify how district lines are drawn.

The liberal minority justices dissented the opinion, saying that states can now systematically dilute minority citizens voting power.

But the real impact goes far beyond one state.

It raises the bar for proving discrimination, essentially requiring plaintiffs to show intentional bias, not just unequal outcomes.

Critics of this ruling believe it'll sideline minority voters and weaken the power of the Voting Rights Act passed during the Jim Crow era.

Governor Sherrill is among those opposed to it, calling the ruling "reckless and wrong."

U.S.

Senator Cory Booker called it a setback.

And while New Jersey has strong state-level voting protections, some social justice advocates here are speaking out against it.

This is a disappointing setback, but make no mistake, it's also an opportunity for states like New Jersey to step in and double down on democracy and their voters.

In New Jersey, we're already halfway there.

We have a state-based Voting Rights Act that has passed through the The John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey would put into state law a lot of the protections that we get through the federal VRA and used to get from the federal VRA before the Supreme Court came in and weakened it.

We can put that into state law right now and protect New Jersey voters.

- And that's what we've got for Headlines.

Back to you, Bri.

- Coming up, we talk to Democratic candidate Brian Varela about his competitive race for Representative Tom Kane Jr.

's seat.

That's next.

- Funding for NJ Spotlight News, provided by the members of the New Jersey Education Association and RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn more at rwjbh.org.

With the midterms almost upon us, New Jersey's 7th congressional district has become the state's most competitive race in the house with a crowded democratic primary field, all vying for the chance to take on incumbent representative Tom Kane Jr.

In November, among them is businessman Brian Varela, who's positioning himself as a political outsider with a working class message and a willingness to self-fund his campaign.

But as the race intensifies, questions have emerged about his strategy, how he plans to stand out in this packed field, and whether he can flip this district blue.

Brian Varela is with us now where we will find out how you plan to do that.

Brian, welcome.

Good to talk with you.

Why are you running for this seat?

I know in a lot of your campaign literature, your previous interviews, you've said that you want to make an impact on your community.

Why not run for a local seat, cut your teeth there first, before moving on to a federal office?

Right now, thank you for having me, but right now what we need is the fighter.

We are seeing a corrupted administration and a silent congressman that's supposed to represent this district pretty much letting the executive branch steamroll Congress, which is supposed to be a check and balance on the executive branch.

And we are missing that fight right now.

I'm someone that's been a fighter my whole life.

I fought to pay my way through school.

I fought to keep my family afloat when my mom got sick.

I fought to raise my younger brother when he was 13 and I was 24.

I fought to build a business from scratch during COVID.

And I fought to expand the Democratic Party, particularly in very red parts of this district and here in the state.

And what we are missing right now is fight is that level of fight down in DC and that's what I plan to take down there.

There's quite a few candidates in this race.

What sets you and specifically your platform apart that you believe can defeat Tom Kane in the general election?

Someone who has very high name recognition and of course a long background of being in elected office.

Voters are absolutely sick and tired of the usual.

They are tired of the same type of Democrats that have failed us over and over again that have led to a Trump presidency.

And what we need right now is boldness and courage.

And I believe that when it comes to the families of this district, when they're presented with a candidate that's bringing those bold ideas, that's standing on courage, that's speaking truth to power, and that most importantly is putting their interest above the billionaire class, which is what Tom Kane and Donald Trump are doing right now.

That's what's getting voters engaged.

That's what's gonna energize the base.

And quite frankly, that's what's going to win over a lot of the disaffected Republicans and independent voters, the unaffiliated voters who cannot stand what is happening in DC right now.

We need a fighter and we need someone who's gonna fight for the families of New Jersey 7 and that is me.

You have your first TV ad out this week where you pledged to dismantle "Trump's ICE."

We're hearing this a lot from Democratic candidates this season in particular.

Are there specific policies though that you'd pursue, Brian, to reform or replace the current form of immigration enforcement?

Yeah, look, for starters, and I don't know if people are aware, but we are spending three times more money right now to deport someone's grandmother than what we're spending to protect this country from terrorism.

And as taxpayers, we should be livid.

We've got the Trump administration and Tom Kane Jr.

who has allowed the Trump administration to use ICE as their own federal rogue agency.

We are not seeing law enforcement, right?

While I believe we need some sort of immigration enforcement, this is absolutely not it.

And what we need to do is completely dismantle Trump's ICE because the priority is not immigration enforcement or law enforcement.

The priority is cruelty and we are seeing too many of our immigrant neighbors being terrorized.

But how do you do that, Brian?

I mean, you're citing the numbers of what it costs, but how do you reform it?

What's your plan to do that?

Well, for starters, a very low-hanging fruit.

We scale back everything that the Trump administration has done.

We scale back the additional funding that they've gotten through the big, beautiful bill.

We can start there and then build from that.

Let me ask about your campaign funding.

The majority of it comes from self loans.

How do you respond to criticism that this reflects a lack of enthusiasm in your district or a lack of grassroots support?

Well, my answer to that is it's very simply as the anti-establishment candidate, as someone who's an outsider, I've got the largest coalition in this race.

We've been endorsed by over 80 Democratic leaders here in the district.

We've been endorsed by two counties and several different organizations.

And the fact that we've been able to build that coalition in spite of not being the establishment's candidate, I think speaks a lot about the energy within the grassroots and from the ground up.

We had 34 volunteers who helped us collect the most petitions out of anyone in this race.

And in spite of all that, we still managed to raise over $700,000 with roughly 93% of those donations coming from New Jersey and a $10 median donation.

So you're pledging to lower costs for families to make New Jersey more affordable.

How?

With very logical policies.

For starters, I believe in universal child care.

I think that we can cap child care to $10 a day and when we do that, we are empowering parents to work.

We're investing in the future of our children because they're going to be starting their academic career off on the right foot and ultimately, that's a policy that's going to lead to a more productive society, which is going to widen the middle class and create a stronger economy for everyone.

And there are a lot of other policies like that that'll have the same types of impact that I believe in.

Let me ask you quickly before we have to go, a lot of your platform focuses on what you say is defending democracy, protecting voting rights.

Given the Supreme Court's decision yesterday narrowing the scope of the Voting Rights Act, what legislation or is there specific legislation that you'd pursue to sort of redefine some of the protections that have been in place for decades?

My goodness, this has been one of those things that's been hanging out there.

We have to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

We have to pass it because right now our democracy is at stake and this administration is going to take advantage of what the Supreme Court just did and ultimately they're going to disenfranchise voters all across the country.

What I saw today and my fear for the future of this country, it alarms me and we need to fix that and we need a Congress that's going to do that and we need to do that immediately.

Brian Varela is a candidate, a Democratic candidate in the primary race for New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.

Brian, thanks so much for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

Well, despite being designated a national superfund site for widespread lead contamination, the neighborhood of East Trenton still doesn't have a system in place for residents to get their homes tested.

Instead, much of that detailed work has fallen to a single graduate student who has gone door to door sampling more than 140 homes, helping families discover lead in their water, soil and even inside their walls.

Now he's preparing to graduate and when he leaves, that work may end with him.

A new investigation from Grist reveals a patchwork system where Trenton residents are left to navigate risks on their own and what it could mean for both the state's capital and other communities facing similar contamination.

Joining us now is Anna Mattson, the reporter behind that story.

Anna, it's great to have you with us.

This was excellent reporting.

I guess off the bat, I'm wondering how does an entire neighborhood, not only on this list, but on a priority list, given the risks and the potential health causes that it has, get left to a doctoral student to do this testing.

Right, thank you so much for having me.

So the testing situation in Trenton is very patchwork and piecemeal as Dr.

Stratton has described it to me.

The EPA Superfund designation only calls for soil and lead in the soil, which comes from a wide range of potential pollution from gasoline, also from a major source of lead, which has been pottery manufacturing.

And so there are still remnants of pottery with lead traces in some residential yards.

And what the Superfund designation means is that the EPA will be looking at that specifically.

However, Trenton still has a serious issue with lead in pipes and also lead in the air and lead paint, because most of the buildings in Trenton are still older than the designated age to repaint and that, excuse me, that lead paint is no longer able to be used.

So some of those still remain and so there are certain agencies that cover certain testing but there's no real comprehensive testing that will tell a resident in Trenton what the risks are.

Yeah, I mean it all stems from, as you just noted, Trenton's legacy as an industrial powerhouse, but the state does get money, $100 million, as you know in your report, federal funding to do some of that work.

How is it being used then and why isn't it being used to do this sort of door-to-door comprehensive work that, as you mentioned, Dr.

Stratton, the doctoral student, is doing?

That money is only designated for certain uses.

So like I mentioned, there's still separated kinds of testing, and there are very few people on the ground.

And also there's a certain hesitancy, I think, the residents have of letting certain people in their doors to do some of this testing.

So what is interesting about Dr.

Stratton is that he's really leveraged some of the community members and really has spent time on the ground with people to make them comfortable and feel safe with letting people into their homes and do this testing.

So there's a lot of community work that Dr.

Stratton has done that could be a great way for other communities to sort of see this in and to get the proper care and help and testing that they need.

Can you give us an idea, Anna, of what he found when he did that sampling?

How high were these lead levels?

And you profiled quite a few residents who had no idea they were living with this type of contamination.

I wonder how common that type of invisible exposure is.

Invisible exposure is, I think, still huge.

And like I mentioned, thank you to Sherelle Snyder with East Trenton Collaborative, who's sort of helped shepherd Stratton into these homes and educated community members who start to have an interest in lead and say, "Well, you know what?

My home was built before this certain time.

And also, maybe I'm experiencing some health issues.

Maybe I should talk to Dr.

Stratton."

So there was definitely a network of use, but I think that invisible exposure persists and will continue to unless there's more education about it, unless people naturally and organically find out about lead in their homes, especially in Trenton.

What happens then, and this is the big question, right, when Dr.

Stratton leaves when he graduates?

It's uncertain, especially with lack of funding right now from the federal government and some of these grants that Dr.

Stratton has been given to do this work, that a lot of that funding is disappearing.

And because it's a specific project, it's uncertain right now if anyone will come and replace this important work that he's done.

So it's to be continued, and who knows what will happen after May.

And his project has already wrapped, so a lot of this testing and work that he's been doing is over now.

But even after his thesis and his his dissertation has ended, he was still while living in Trenton doing sampling just because he thinks it's the right thing to do.

And what he found in his research was that the majority of homes had lead in them from various sources, from dust, from the outside, from their paint, and from lead in pipes.

So there's still a pervasive issue in the majority of homes.

Yeah.

And as you know, a lot of this work around the country, not just here in New Jersey, is being left to graduate students to do, a very critical public health issue.

Anna Mattson, great reporting.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Thank you so much for having me.

At the beginning of this year, Jamie Ding was known for his work at New Jersey's Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

But he very quickly became a household name after scoring a 31 game winning streak on the game show Jeopardy.

He's now ranked in the top five winners in the show's history.

It's a remarkable feat, but Ding made sure to use his time on Jeopardy to highlight some important issues here in New Jersey.

And I'm pleased now to welcome him to the show.

Jamie, thanks so much for being with us.

Thanks very much for having me.

What was it like being a contestant on Jeopardy!

and having that run for so long?

It was super fun.

Everyone was really welcoming.

The production process is really well organized.

And I mean, playing Jeopardy!

is very fun.

I won a game and then I came back the next day and won another and another and just kept going.

It was a wild ride.

- How much do you actually study or prepare for the episodes, for the questions?

- I feel like I've been preparing my entire life to learn a lot of trivia.

And then in terms of preparing specifically for Jeopardy!, it was probably a month, like the month between getting the call to go on the show and actually doing the taping.

How much do they actually tell you about what the topics will be?

Are you queued in there?

They tell you nothing.

The best advice for what topics there will be is probably to just, you know, watch Jeopardy and see what they ask about consistently, because some things definitely pop up more often than others.

Sure, and also just, you know, be really smart.

Did the pressure increase as the wins kept coming?

Did you feel that pressure add on?

Or did it remain fun?

Ooh, it always remained fun.

I feel like maybe the most pressure was around Game 5 or Game 10, because Game 5 is the threshold for Tournament of Champions, and Game 10 is threshold for Super Champ.

And then after that, I mean, it was always nice to keep winning, but it did feel good, you know, knowing that I had, you know, made my mark already and that I would be back for the Tournament of Champions, whenever that tapes.

It's significant, I think, people took notice that you used the moment to talk about things that matter.

And given your background and your work in housing here in New Jersey, you brought that up as an issue on the show.

What is your thought, your take, on how New Jersey has approached housing in this state, especially in recent years?

I love the way that New Jersey has approached housing.

We have the Mount Laurel Supreme Court doctrine, which has been around for 51 years now.

And I guess we're still the only state that really recognizes the right to affordable housing.

And that is related to why New Jersey has built more housing than our slacker neighbors.

Yeah, I was going to say you took some shots at our neighbors to the left and to the right.

What do you have to say about Pennsylvania and New York?

Well, I mean, I hope I've seen good things coming from them.

So, you know, it's never too late to get better.

And of course, here in New Jersey, we also we also have a lot of opportunity to do better than how we're doing right now.

You stood alongside Governor Sherrill this week.

Everyone's trying to get their time with Jamie Ding right now.

But you stood alongside her as she announced this executive order on housing.

What are your thoughts there in terms of forward looking goals for New Jersey?

She wants to she really wants to look at how she can repurpose some existing properties and use state land to build more housing.

What are your thoughts there.

I love it.

I'm excited to see the to see the report when it comes out.

And I mean working at the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, it's possible that I'll maybe contribute a little piece to that.

We'll see.

Is that something you want to do?

Perhaps.

OK.

Probably.

OK.

We'll leave it there on that one.

You also used your time in follow up interviews to talk about some social justice issues here in America.

You talk about yourself as a child of immigrants.

What do you believe is America's view on immigrants right now and what would you like it to be.

Well, America contains multitudes and I mean overall I think that that spirit of you know being welcoming and hospitable that has you know permeated the American consciousness like everybody, everybody instinctively understands birthright citizenship and I think values it.

But then also we have people who disagree with that and right now they control the federal government.

So I believe that we'll win in the end.

But it does take.

You can't win just by saying that you're going to win.

You have to do something to to make it happen.

Well you are doing something for yourself.

You are right now enrolled in Seton Hall Law School.

You're attending on the weekends.

What do you see as the next steps for yourself?

What do you intend to do with that degree?

I really like policy and using legal knowledge to achieve the policy goals that I'm interested in.

Law is the language of power.

So it really helps to understand the law.

Any other game shows in your future?

Ooh, probably it would be nice to have a break.

But also your pop culture, Jeopardy!

seems pretty interesting.

And like my sister, Jessie, she's much better at certain parts of pop culture than me.

So maybe we'd make a good team.

Of course, you do get to probably take a break, I would imagine, after the earnings that you won on Jeopardy!.

Any good vacation plans for you?

The one that I definitely want to do is next year go to see the eclipse of the century with me and my friends.

Where will that be?

That will cross over Gibraltar and North Africa.

And then the totality will be six minutes long about, which is wild.

I've seen two total solar eclipses before and yeah, once you see one, you got to have more.

All right.

Well, Jamie Ding, congratulations on an incredible win.

Top five of the winners ever in Jeopardy.

Thanks for being with us.

You've been making New Jersey proud, no doubt.

- Thank you very, very much.

I'm very glad to have done that.

- That's gonna do it for us tonight.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

For the entire NJ Spotlight News team, thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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