3 days ago
Donald Trump names deep blue state that's ready to leave Dem 'horror show'
Donald Trump said Monday that New Jersey - a state home to what's known as his 'Summer White House ' in Bedminster - is ready to turn blue starting with this year's gubernatorial election.
The president spent Monday night holding a tele-rally for Jack Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker who transformed from a critic to vocal backer of the president and considered the heavy favorite to win the GOP nomination in the June 10 primary.
Ciattarelli, who came within three points of incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy in 2021, is now staking his claim to flip the state house red for the first time since Chris Christie won re-election in 2013.
The momentum appeared to continue into 2024, with Trump losing to Kamala Harris in the state by just five points, a 10-point improvement on 2020 and the best Republican performance in New Jersey since 1992.
The phone call with Trump lasted about 10 minutes, with the president saying that voters will decide whether New Jersey remains a 'high-tax, high-crime sanctuary state.'
'New Jersey is ready to pop out of that blue horror show and really get in there and vote for somebody that´s going to make things happen,' the president said.
The president landed on a familiar refrain for his pitch to voters in the Garden State.
'It's like 'Make America Great Again.' It's 'Make New Jersey Great Again,' Trump said, adding that if Democrats retain power in Trenton, the state 'economy will wither and die and you'll be living in a nightmare of chaos and crime.'
The president warned that 'you sort of have that to a certain extent now.'
Trump's call for early voting echoed the pitch he made to voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Ciattarelli said his first executive order if elected would be to end any sanctuary policies for immigrants in the country illegally.
Currently, the state attorney general has directed local law enforcement not to assist federal agents in civil immigration matters.
There is no legal definition for sanctuary city policies , but they generally limit cooperation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers.
Ciattarelli also said the attorney general he appoints if he wins won't be bringing lawsuits against the White House.
New Jersey's current attorney general has pursued several high-profile challenges to the president's agenda, including a case challenging Trump's order calling for the end of birthright citizenship .
Ciattarelli is running against former radio talk host Bill Spadea, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and a southern New Jersey contractor named Justin Barbera.
The Democratic field isn't set. There's a six-way contest between Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill (pictured); Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark and Steven Fulop of Jersey City; former state Senate President Steve Sweeney; and teacher's union president Sean Spiller
Early in-person voting begins Tuesday and goes through Sunday. Primary day is June 10, though voters have been sending mail-in ballots in since late April.
Though the primary isn't over, Ciattarelli hinted at what attacks against his eventual Democratic challenger in the general election might be, saying the party's eight years in the governorship and more than two decades of power in the legislature have been a failure.
The Democratic field isn't set. There's a six-way contest between Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill; Mayors Ras Baraka of Newark and Steven Fulop of Jersey City; former state Senate President Steve Sweeney; and teacher's union president Sean Spiller.
New Jersey tilts Democratic in presidential and Senate elections in particular, and the party has a roughly 800,000 voter registration advantage over Republicans.
But independents make up a significant bloc as well, and voters have tended to alternate between Democratic and Republican administrations for governor.
Murphy crawled over the finish line to a second term, ending with 51.22 percent of the vote to 48.00 against former state GOP lawmaker Ciattarelli.
It was expected to be an easy victory for Murphy for weeks leading up to Election Day.
