Frank Pallone Vs. Sue Kiley: Where They Stand On The Biggest Issues

ABERDEEN, NJ — One of the biggest races in Central Jersey Tuesday is the battle for the Sixth District U.S. Congress seat.

Voters will be asked to choose between Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone, who has represented this area for decades, and Sue Kiley, the Republican woman who hopes to eject him from the halls of Congress.

"NJ 6" stretches from Carteret and Woodbridge into Edison, New Brunswick and down to Asbury Park. It hugs the Raritan Bay coastline, including towns such as Aberdeen, Matawan, Hazlet, North Middletown, Sea Bright and West Long Branch. See a map of the district.

NJ 6 is generally thought of as a Democratic district. Pallone, 70, has represented this area for the past 34 years, since he was first elected to Congress in 1988.

Every two years, a Republican challenges him and this year it's Kiley, 67, a former Hazlet councilwoman and a current Monmouth County Commissioner.

Kiley is trying to be part of a "Red Wave" of Republican candidates this midterm, hoping to tap into voters angry about the economy, inflation and New Jersey's crime increase, particularly auto theft: Car theft is up 66 percent in 2022 in Monmouth County.

Kiley hopes her message will resonate with the Bayshore's blue-collar voters, a community she knows well.

She used to be a nurse and she and her husband, a police officer, raised five children in a middle-class home in Hazlet. She first got involved in politics 10 years ago, running for town council when Hazlet was devastated by Sandy; Kiley said at the time the federal government did not do enough to help.

Kiley was said to be Pallone's strongest Republican candidate in years, but she is also a longshot: Pallone has a $4 million war chest compared to Kiley, who has raised just $250,000 for her campaign, $100,000 of which was a loan to her campaign from herself and her husband.

The Sixth District race didn't even make the list of close NJ midterm elections to watch, published by the New York Times this week.

"I know Pallone has supporters, but I don't think he has as many supporters as he had in the past," Kiley previously said. "I am terrified of the radical direction that (Pallone), Nancy Pelosi, Phil Murphy and Joe Biden are taking our country."

In many ways, Kiley and Pallone could not disagree more, differing on abortion, the economy, immigration, sex education and U.S. energy.

Kiley voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and she campaigned for him throughout Monmouth County that year. In media interviews, she often echoes Trump talking points, regularly mentioning bringing back "common sense, America-first" policies.

Pallone is an ally of President Joe Biden and he was a fierce critic of Trump, voting twice for Trump to be impeached.

Here's what voters need to know about where Kiley and Pallone stand on the biggest issues facing Americans today:

Abortion

Kiley is a conservative Republican and has said in the past her Christian religious beliefs guide her. She is often seen wearing a cross. She applauded when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade earlier this year. Kiley said abortion should only happen if there are serious health risks to the mother, or in cases of rape or child molestation.

“As a woman, a mother, a grandmother and an American, I welcome the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade,” said Kiley, according to NJ.com.

Pallone on the other hand, is pro-choice. After Roe was overturned, he immediately leapt to action, introducing a national bill that protects the rights of women to cross state lines to get an abortion without fear of criminal charges.

Pallone also warned that if Republicans gain control of the House this year, they will try to outlaw abortions nationwide, or at the very least make them illegal nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The economy/inflation

Like many Republicans, Kiley places all the blame for rising prices and inflation at the feet of President Joe Biden.

"How did we become a country where the working family continues to struggle with increasing gas prices, increasing price of food and other goods, empty shelves in the stores and too many people out of work?" asked Kiley in campaign videos.

She has promised to cut corporate taxes and regulation if elected to Congress.

Pallone, on the other hand, nearly always supports all state and federal taxes imposed on companies and corporations. Just this past July, he applauded the federal reinstatement of the Superfund tax on chemical companies, saying they have to pay for pollution.

Pallone is one of Biden's strongest supporters on Capitol Hill. He enthusiastically supported the $1.9 trillion CARES Act, which was the largest federal stimulus bill ever passed in U.S. history, the Build Back Better Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Pallone also counters that his support for these federal packages, most significantly the Affordable Cares Act and the CARES Act, have made life more affordable for everyday New Jersey residents, through lowering healthcare costs and prescription drug prices.

Crime

Not only is Kiley the wife of a retired police officer, several of her sons are police officers. Like New York Republican governor candidate Lee Zeldin, she is calling for an end to bail reform. Bail reform was championed by Democrats and progressives in both New York state and New Jersey to reduce the use of cash bail, or end it entirely. Critics — many of whom are in law enforcement or are Republican — say bail reform does not keep accused criminals behind bars long enough.

“Any given night you can turn on the TV and see how out of control crime is across our nation," Kiley has said. "We have to re-evaluate laws like ‘bail reform’ and support our police with training and resources.”

Pallone supported bail reform and he strongly supported the 2020 Justice in Policing Act, meant to "address police abuse, hold law enforcement accountable, improve transparency and create structural change that safeguards every American’s right to justice."

After the death of George Floyd, Pallone often spoke about ending what he called "racial injustice" in policing.

Immigration

Kiley has also accused Biden of running an "open border" with Mexico. She is calling to bring back many of Trump's immigration policies and she supported building the wall.

"Our government continues to allow illegal immigration unabated at our borders at a time when our resources are stretched very thin," she said in campaign videos. "We have no vetting of any kind for the hundreds of thousands entering our country illegally. And then they are subsequently put on planes and flown to sanctuary states like New Jersey in the middle of the night. We are a country of immigrants. Our country welcomes over a million legal immigrants every year, more than any other county in the world, through a legal process."

Pallone supported the DREAM Act, which gave undocumented minors the chance to become American citizens, and which Trump attempted to dismantle. Pallone has voiced support for the many undocumented people who live and work in New Jersey. He has called them a vital part of the state's economy and supports giving them a path to citizenship.

Energy

Kiley has said throughout her campaign she wants America to become energy independent and she wants to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas. Like many Republican, she was very critical of Biden's decision last week to open the Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

Pallone is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and he nearly always back Biden's energy policies. He strongly supports Gov. Phil Murphy's construction of hundreds of wind farms off the New Jersey coast.

Kiley has not voiced any support for offshore NJ wind farms.

Sex education in schools

This week, Pallone told the Asbury Park Press that Republicans are spreading "misinformation" about New Jersey's sex education and also using it to "attack the LGBTQ community."

Kiley countered that she doesn't think some of the material should be taught in elementary schools.

"I don't believe anything related to sexual education in the grammar school is appropriate for a teacher to teach a child. Those are things that their parents should be teaching them at a time when their parents think they're ready to hear it," Kiley told the newspaper.

In summary:

Pallone started out as a Long Branch councilman and his brother, John Pallone, also a Democrat, is currently the mayor of Long Branch.

Kiley started off as a Hazlet councilwoman and has long been involved with the Monmouth County Republican Party.

"The voters of the 6th congressional district are not left-wing ideologues. They are common-sense, hardworking people who value their families and believe in the exceptional promise of America," Kiley told the New Jersey Globe. “If we have learned anything about Frank Pallone in the last two years, we learned that he is not a leader. He is an enabler. Pallone has stood by while the radical fringe left of his party has opened our borders, brought violence and deadly drugs into our communities, unleashed rampant inflation, skyrocketing energy prices, and brought the world to the brink of World War III.”

"My record in Congress speaks for itself and makes it clear that I fight for my constituents every day," said Pallone previously when asked to respond to Kiley's criticism. "I've championed legislation in this Congress to lower prescription drug and health care costs, repair and rebuild our infrastructure, and protect the environment. I'm going to keep up my work on these important issues and look forward to earning the support of voters this fall."