well five of the Democrats vying to replace Governor Murphy squared off last night during the NJ Spotlight News WNYC radio conversation with the candidates the rhetoric though heated up in what's been an otherwise amicable primary race showing just how close of a contest it's become candidates laid out their platforms where they agree and perhaps more importantly where they disagree senior political correspondent David Cruz has the highlights it's about investing in mass transit Mikey and not just being vague on there but you got to repair a bridge that was built right after World War II that has now would be a good thing for now brace yourself New Jersey with less than a month to go before voters settle the primaries for governor the gloves as they say have come off the target as expected Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl presumed by observers and at least one public poll to be the front runner Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulip is seen by the same observers and poll as within the margin of error time says the conventional wisdom for some offense from Phillip on her suggestion that the immigrant trust act could be challenged in court if it became law Philip attacked any legislation right now opens this up to attacks in our court system we also know we have Hava right now absolutely it's a really good excuse if you understand our court system if you understand the fact that Hava is the US attorney right now in our state Steve both of you if you understand that Hava is the US attorney who is attacking people listen to everything if everyone talks over each other i understand and I will come to you meanwhile Rasparaka whose campaign was suddenly supercharged after his arrest outside the Delaney Hall detention center took his opportunity to draw a contrast with Cheryl here mocking her plans for affordable housing which seemed to include an idea for a program that already exists i'm going to make sure that we are providing tax abatements to to repurpose underutilized commercial properties uh you see what how that happened in Harrison New Jersey where they built a soccer to make sure that we are Thank you to make sure that we're doing firsttime home buyer programs to provide them with that initial down payment so they can get into it to cut through red tape and bureaucracy and to go after the landlords congressman Josh Godheimer wellunded and ubiquitous on TV and social media did less attacking and more insisting that he's the tax cutter in the race he was on the periphery of much of the conversations but he did have a spirited game of tag with the New York mayor you've raised taxes 25% in New York really property tax up 25% since you're mayor is that what you're going to do for as governor no I'm not going to give money taxes 50% none of it is Mayor Barack let's hear what you have to say yeah and and and he for the Republicans more than anybody in the Congress above the interrupting and the cross talk was former Senate President Steve Sweeney a survivor of many Trenton wars commanding attention even when standing in contrast to the party's base on a major immigration issue and claiming one of its major victories that immigrant trust doctrine is not protecting one person all you're doing is giving false hope to people that they are safe they're not safe i fixed the pension problem i did and I got the scars to prove it 20 years prior to me becoming Senate President the state put $3 billion in the pension fund three from 2011 today $50 billion who you think benefited the most out of this conversation usually follows who you liked before it began but for anyone who's been watching this pot for over a year it's clear now that the boiling has begun i'm David Cruz nj Spotlight News