Christine Madrid (R) Candidate for NJ Assembly

Montgomery Township

Age: 40

Profession: homemaker.

Q: Why are you running?

“Because I don’t think the incumbents are serving the people of this district’s interests. I think the Democrats have been in charge of the legislature for about 15 years at this point. And, by all objective measures, NJ is headed in the wrong direction. We’re last in business climate. We’re last in taxes. Taxes are too high. People are leaving the state. I think that we need to make change.”

Q: Can NJ Transit be fixed?

"They provide a service to NJ citizens who rely on them to get to work and to get where ever they need to go. And they’re just not providing that service well. So there needs to be accountability. They need to look at where all the money is being spent and whether it’s being used wisely. And if they’re not making good decisions with taxpayer money, I think they need to figure where they need to make changes and those changes need to be made quickly. And nobody seems to be focused on it.”

Q: Open Space vs Affordable Housing

“I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. I focused on open space preservation; it was one of our priorities when I was on the Montgomery Township Committee. During my time, I think we preserved more than 700 acres of open space in one capacity or another.”

Q: Thoughts on current NJ leadership?

“I think we’re going in the wrong direction, and I think his (Gov Murphy) priorities are wrong for NJ. Taxes are only going higher. He hasn’t improved anything for your average NJ citizen.”

Q: US News & World Report ranked New Jersey near the bottom in fiscal stability. How do you ensure the state has balanced budgets and improves its credit rating?

“I think it’s about priorities. I think we’re making bad choices that are not serving the people of the 16th District well, or the state as a whole. The school funding formula needs to be readjusted. It’s antiquated at this point. We’re taking money away from these suburban towns.”

Q: Where do you stand on marijuana legalization?

“It’s two different issues, as far I’m concerned. I fully support medicinal marijuana. I have concerns about recreational marijuana. I don’t think there’s enough research out there. Particularly, I’m concerned about children and its impact on their developing brains. Vaping has become a big problem in our schools and it’s extremely hard to control. And in so many ways, people are marketing these things to children.”

Q: What are the differences between you and your opponents?

“I think this election is about Gov. Murphy and the Democrats. They’re not accountable to the taxpayers at this point.”

“The Democrats have held the legislature for more than 15 years at this point. I think that they’re taking NJ in the wrong direction. We’re dead last economically. People are leaving the state in droves. And I think that we’re at a turning point in this state. We need to make a change. We can keep electing the same people like Andrew Zwicker and Roy Freiman and all of the other Murphy Democrats. But I think that we need to make better choices for our state at this point and I think that we’re running out of time.” ■