There’s a new face on the political landscape today – her name is Jessica Goralski of  Moorestown.

Goralski is the star of the latest ad for Bob Healey, the Republican challenging Andy Kim in CD-3.  Goralski recounts how an intruder broke into her family’s home and remains at large.

That was bad enough, but here’s the salient part of the message.

“With Andy Kim as my congressman, I feel like it will happen again,” she says.

Besides inflation, Healey and other Republicans are blaming Democrats for rising crime. This is an emotional issue to be sure, but the logic doesn’t really hold up.

A congressman is not a local beat cop, nor is he a police chief.

No matter. In the ad, Goralski proclaims:

“Bob Healey is definitely going to keep us safe.”

Crime is always an issue, but Democrats have been playing defense ever since the Black Lives Matter protests two years ago prompted calls to “Defund the Police.”  Dems generally supported the protest and many took part in marches. When crime rates began rising – after years of decline – it was a political problem for Democrats.

Crime tends to be cyclical and the pandemic certainly was a contributing factor. Nuances, however, tend to get lost, or at least overlooked, in the heat of a campaign.

That explains Healey’s latest ad.

In response, the Kim campaign noted that the congressman has been endorsed in 2020 and again this year, by the Fraternal Order of Police.

It also cited Kim’s support for many pro-law enforcement measures. A most recent one was the Invest to Protect Act to create a grant program for relatively small police departments.

Moreover, the campaign noted that Kim has supported funding for an array of similar initiatives, including $512 million for Community Oriented Police Services, $135 million for the STOP School Violence Act, and $95 million for grants to improve firearm background checks.

More generally, a spokesman for Kim said:

“(The congressman) knows that partisan politics has no place in national or local security. Congressman Kim has no doubt that everyone, regardless of political leaning, wants people to be and feel safe here in New Jersey.”

Healey, however, is not backing down.

In a release on Tuesday, he said, “Suburban crime continues to rise while Andy Kim for Congress can’t admit he was wrong in failing to denounce the destructive ‘defund the police’ idea when his Progressive Caucus colleagues took aim at law enforcement.”

In his drive to paint Kim as oblivious to crime, Healey said that just last week, Mikie Sherrill, one of Kim’s Democratic colleagues, introduced legislation to combat auto thefts.

“If Andy Kim was focused on issues that matter to his constituents, that would have been our congressman taking the lead.” Healey said.

Healey praising – at least indirectly – Mikie Sherrill. Strange things happen in campaigns.