Jack Ciattarelli, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, won the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor in a landslide Tuesday night — and is set to face Democratic New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the winner of her party’s primary, in November.
The race to lead the Garden State will be one of the first two gubernatorial contests of Trump’s second term and an early test to see if the 2024 gains Republicans made in New Jersey were a one-off or a sign of an ongoing rightward trend. The state notably shifted 10 percentage points to the GOP between 2020 and 2024, with Trump coming within 6 points of turning it red for the first time since 1988.
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With 73% of the vote in, Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman who was the 2021 Republican gubernatorial nominee, led the five-candidate field with just over two thirds — 67.6% — of support, more than 45 points ahead of his closest rival, radio host Bill Spadea who had 22.0%, according to the Associated Press (AP), Former State Sen. Jon Bramnick, an anti-Trump Republican, was in a distant third with 6.3% of support, per the AP.
On the Democratic side, with 80% of the vote in, Sherrill came out on top with 34.1%, with Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, a self-described “unapologetic progressive,” who had 19.6%, according to the AP. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop had 16.3% of the vote and Sherrill’s House colleague Democratic New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer had 12.3% of vote, according to the AP.
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The AP called the primary contests for both Ciattarelli and Sherrill less than 40 minutes after polls had closed.
Ciattarelli thanked Trump in his victory speech. The Republican nominee called the president New Jersey’s “most well-known part-time resident who honored me with his endorsement and strong support.”
“We won because our campaign is about people, not politics. It’s about vision, not division,” Ciattarelli added in his speech.
“Jack, who after getting to know and understand MAGA, has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!),” Trump wrote in the May post announcing his endorsement of Ciattarelli. He added that the now-nominee would “work closely with me and the Trump Administration to advance our America First Agenda” if elected governor.
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Ciattarelli narrowly lost the 2021 gubernatorial election to incumbent Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. The Republican, nevertheless, exceeded expectations by keeping the race to a 3-point-margin.
Murphy is term-limited and cannot seek reelection this year.
Sherrill, meanwhile, has served in Congress since 2019, after flipping a largely affluent suburban district that had been held by Republicans for the previous 34 years. A lawyer and former Navy helicopter pilot, the lawmaker is a member of the New Democrat Coalition — a caucus of House Democrats widely described as being part of the party’s liberal establishment.
The congresswoman in July 2024 notably called for then-President Joe Biden to drop out of that year’s presidential race, joining a growing list of Democratic lawmakers who urged Biden to forgo reelection following his widely-panned June 27 debate performance against Trump. Biden eventually ended his bid over a week after Sherrill’s call.
Sherrill called Ciattarelli a “lackey” of Trump in her victory speech, according to the Washington Post.
“New Jersey once again stands at the front lines,” the Democrat added. “We are in an American crisis, but not in a war for independence but a fight for our future.”
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