Former Vice President Al Gore, pictured in August, asked the crowd wants to see the state go in. “Are the beaches going to be open to all? Are the bridges not going to be used as political punishment?" | Grant Pollard/Invision/AP Photo Gore stumps for Murphy as Guadagno speaks to gun group

OCEAN TOWNSHIP — As former vice president Al Gore stumped with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy on Sunday, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno continued her push to the right, speaking privately to a gun group about the dangers of undocumented immigrants and threats to gun ownership.

Sunday's campaign events followed a dramatic week during which Guadagno, a Republican, assailed Murphy over his stance on immigration, airing a television ad that accused Murphy of having “the backs of deranged murderers" because he supports turning New Jersey into a sanctuary state to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.


Guadagno refuted accusations that the ad is racist, saying that “somehow, today, the fact that I have said I want to protect the people of New Jersey against anyone who would commit a violent crime against anyone in New Jersey — I somehow have become a racist?”

The ad cites the murder of three people in a Newark schoolyard in 2007, noting that one of the convicted killers was an undocumented immigrant. It triggered an outcry from Murphy supporters, with former vice president Joe Biden calling it a “return of Willie Horton,” referencing an infamous attack ad run against Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis in 1988.

As Murphy campaigned alongside Gore in Ocean Township on Sunday, he criticized the Guadagno campaign's tactics.

“Over the past week or two, my opponent [did] just what Donald Trump did, and just what Chris Christie did,” he said to a packed community gymnasium. “They’re trying to scare people to vote.”

Guadagno released audio of her remarks to the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, after Murphy’s campaign criticized her for giving a speech that was closed to the press.

In the speech, Guadagno slammed Murphy for pledging to sign gun bills that Christie vetoed.

“A knee-jerk, political reaction to the devastating, shattering actions of a madman in Las Vegas, Nevada, should not be an opportunity to make a political statement for Phil Murphy,” Guadagno said. “Yeah, he took that opportunity. We knew it was coming. And we knew what he was going to say: Take your guns.”

In his remarks, Murphy reiterated his promise to sign the vetoed bills and attacked Guadagno for not wanting to take action against gun violence.

“Our opponents and many others said now is not the time, or we are okay with the gun laws we have,” he said. “My answer is, 'was it time for 58 innocent people to lose their lives?' Who made that decision? Now is exactly the time to talk about gun safety.”

Gore spoke warmly of Murphy, his friend of two decades, in two separate events on Sunday. He spoke about climate change and the tech in Princeton, and then stumped for the candidate in Ocean Township.

“We really have been extremely close friends,” Gore said. “We have been in each others’ homes multiple times, we’ve vacationed together.”

Gore railed against Christie and Guadagno, asking the crowd rhetorically if they were embarrassed about the current administration in New Jersey. A few people raised their hands.

“What direction are we going to go? Are the beaches going to be open to all? Are the bridges not going to be used as political punishment?,” he said. “Remember that political will is itself a renewable resource. We need to renew it, we need to feed it, we need nurture it ... and we need to make Phil Murphy the next governor of the state of New Jersey.”