GOP voters pick ex-assemblyman as nominee for New Jersey governor
Jack Ciattarelli, who ran unsuccessfully for governor twice before, will be the GOP nominee for governor in November, the AP says. (Photo by Amanda Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
New Jersey's Republican voters selected former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli as their nominee for governor Tuesday, the Associated Press projected.
Ciattarelli, 63, a Somerset County native, prevailed over four opponents to claim the GOP nod, defeating former radio host Bill Spadea and Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union) as well as longshot candidates Justin Barbera and Mario Kranjac, a former Englewood Cliffs Mayor.
Ciattarelli, a former Somerset County freeholder who has run twice before for governor unsuccessfully, came into the primary with several advantages.
Most of the state's Republican county committees backed his bid, as did President Donald Trump, who remains something of a kingmaker in GOP primaries.
He was the only one of the Republican candidates to obtain $5.5 million in public matching funds, and he did so by March 28, earlier than any rival on either side of the aisle.
Despite Bramnick's decades-long legislative career and Spadea's presence on morning airwaves, New Jersey voters were more familiar with Ciattarelli.
In 2017, Ciattarelli eschewed an Assembly reelection campaign to seek the governorship but lost the nomination to then-Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, 47% to 31%.
In 2021, Ciattarelli pursued the nomination as a moderate, with the more Trumpian primary opponents splitting the vote. He won the GOP nod but lost that November to Gov. Phil Murphy, who won reelection by about 84,000 votes, about 3.2 points. Ciattarelli said he would seek the governorship again just 10 days after polls closed.
He shifted to the right in the intervening years and has pledged that his attorney general would not sue the federal government over Trump's executive orders.
It remains to be seen how Ciattarelli's growing closeness with the president will prove a bane in November. Though Trump lost New Jersey 52% to 46.1% last year, he came closer then to winning the state than any Republican presidential nominee since Bill Clinton defeated George H.W. Bush by 2.4 points in 1992.
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