Trump-backed Jack Ciattarelli captures GOP nomination for New Jersey governor
The Associated Press projects that Jack Ciattarelli, a former GOP state lawmaker who is making his third bid for New Jersey governor, will capture the Republican nomination, topping four rivals in Tuesday's primary in a race that for months had been a battle for Trump's support.
Among those Cittarelli defeated were former businessman and popular conservative talk radio host Bill Spadea and state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a lawyer who served for a decade as state Assembly GOP leader.
Ciattarelli and Spadea spent months trading fire over which of them was a bigger Trump supporter.
But last month the president endorsed Cittarelli, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 2017, but four years later he captured the nomination and overperformed in the general election, coming close to ousting Murphy.
"I'm asking you to get out and vote for a true champion for the people of your state – Jack Ciattarelli. He's been a friend of mine, and he's been a real success story," Trump told supporters a week ago, as he dialed into a tele-rally on the eve of the kick-off of early voting in New Jersey.
Trump's grip over the GOP is stronger than ever following his convincing White House re-election victory last November, and Cittarrelli, in a Fox News Digtal interview last week, said the president's endorsement was "a really big deal" and added "the president's doing very, very well in New Jersey."
Spadea said that not landing Trump's endorsement "was certainly disappointing."
"I mean, we made no bones about this. We absolutely wanted the president's endorsement. Unfortunately, the president endorsed a poll and not a plan," Spadea told Fox News Digital last week.
"I have been a supporter of President Trump since he came down the escalator," as he referenced Trump's announcement in 2015 of his first presidential campaign.
"There is no question that I am the common-sense conservative. I am the actual Republican in this primary," Spadea claimed.
And Spadea questioned Ciattarelli's support for Trump, arguing that his rival "has disrespected him [Trump] for the better part of the last eight years…We thought that that endorsement would have been better served with me."
Four years ago, after he won the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Ciattarelli, when asked if he was seeking the then-former president's endorsement, told Fox News Digital "there's only one endorsement I seek, and that's the endorsement of the voters of New Jersey. That's the only one that matters."
Fast-forward to 2025, and Ciattarelli emphasized that "people really appreciate what he [Trump] is doing for New Jerseyans. He's put a temporary hold on the wind farms off the Jersey Shore. He's beating up on the New York Democrats over congestion pricing. He supports a quadrupling of the SALT [state and local tax] deduction on our federal tax returns. Those are big deals to New Jersey, and that's why he's got so much great support here. And I'm honored to have his endorsement."
Asked why Trump endorsed him rather than Spadea, Ciattarelli said that "the president wants to win. He knows that I provide the best opportunity to win in November."
"He knows we're going to raise the necessary money. We've raised more money than the other five Republican gubernatorial candidates combined," added Ciattarelli, a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics. Ciattarelli's fundraising allowed him to dominate the GOP primary ad wars.
The Democratic Governors Association, pointing to the rush to embrace Trump by the top two candidates, long described the 2025 Republican showdown as a "MAGA battle" and argued that there's "extremism in the GOP primary."
While New Jersey has long leaned toward the Democrats, Republicans have had success in gubernatorial elections.
"It's not a blue state when it comes to governor races, Republicans have won six of the last 11. That's better than 50%," Ciattarelli said.
Trump, who for years has spent summer weekends at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, held a very large campaign rally last year in Wildwood, N.J. And he improved from a 16-point loss in the state in the 2020 election to a 6-point deficit last November.
Ciattarelli, looking ahead to the general election campaign, said he's "really looking forward" to Trump's "active participation…I think New Jerseyans are anxious to have him on the campaign trail with me and help deliver a win for us in November."
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