The big race for New Jersey’s next governor is now set. And it will be a bruising one.
Former state Assemblyman
Jack Ciattarelli
cruised
to the Republican nomination
and U.S. Rep.
Mikie Sherrill
scored a decisive victory in a heated and crowded battle
for the Democratic nomination
in Tuesday’s primary election.
They’ll now face off in the Nov. 4 general election to take over for Gov.
Phil Murphy
, the term-limited incumbent Democrat set to leave office.
N.J. governor primary election results 2025. Live updates.
Live results of the hotly contested primary election battles for nominations in the New Jersey governor’s race.
There’s a lot going on. New Jersey is one of only two governor’s races in the country this year, along with Virginia. And it’ll be watched across the nation as an early test of how voters are responding to President
Donald Trump
’s first year back in office. Expect your senses to be bombarded with TV ads come fall as millions will be poured into the race.
It’ll also be a test of whether Jersey continues a long trend of going back and forth between parties when selecting a governor. The last time one party won three straight terms in the job was 1961. You know, the year Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record.
Here are five things you need to know about each of the new nominees:
JACK CIATTARELLI
1. Third time’s the charm?
This marks the third straight gubernatorial campaign for Ciattarelli — and the second straight time he’s the GOP nominee.
He
lost the 2017 primary
and came within about 3 percentage points
of unseating Murphy
in a stunning 2021 race. Shortly after conceding last time, he
vowed to run again
.
A decade of running for governor likely boosted his name ID. Ciattarelli led this year‘s five-man GOP primary
by double digits
in every poll and was up
by about 45 percentage points
with nearly all votes counted Tuesday morning. He also won in each of the state’s 21 counties.
Jack Ciattarelli wins Trump-colored Republican primary for N.J. governor
The former state lawmaker nearly unseated Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago.
2. From Trump critic to Trump ally.
Like other Republicans, Ciattarelli has changed his tune on the polarizing president — and ended up landing
Trump’s endorsement
. Ciattarelli, a moderate during his time in Trenton, called Trump
a “charlatan” in 2015
and straddled the line on the president in his last gubernatorial bid.
But Ciattarelli has gradually embraced Trump in recent years, with allies even
comparing his evolution
to Vice President JD Vance. Ciattarelli and his top primary rival, former radio host
Bill Spadea
,
battled over Trump’s endorsement
.
Ultimately, the president — a part-time Jersey resident —
backed Ciattarelli
, calling him
a “true champion”
for the state. It was widely seen as the hammer Ciattarelli needed to nail down the nomination.
3. He has held several offices.
Ciattarelli, a Somerville resident, has spent most of the last decade running for governor. But he has years of elected experience before that.
He was a member of the council in his hometown of Raritan Borough from 1990-95, was a Somerset County freeholder from 2007-11, and then served in the state Assembly — the New Jersey Legislature’s lower house — from 2011-18.
4. He also has a business background.
Ciattarelli ran a medical publishing company and is a certified public accountant. He majored in accounting at Seton Hall University and got a masters degree in finance.
5. What about his platform?
Saying the state needs to move on from Murphy and Democratic rule, Ciattarelli
promises
to
cap property taxes
and cut government spending by 30%,
rework
the state’s school funding formula, curb LGTBQ curriculum in schools, repeal
“sanctuary” policies
that protect undocumented immigrants, and install a government efficiency department similar to DOGE.
During his victory speech Tuesday night, Ciattarelli also vowed to appoint a state attorney general who supports the police and to “save our suburbs by stopping overdevelopment.” He said he would support school vouchers “so children are not locked into failing schools.”
“We won because we talked about the issues that mattered,” Ciattarelli said.
Democrats
have criticized him
for not saying whether he’d break from Trump on any issue. The Democratic Governors Association said Tuesday that Ciattarelli “spent the past year and a half reinventing himself by going all-in on Trump’s dangerous agenda.”
But in his speech, Ciattarelli said he will focus on “key New Jersey issues” — and predicted his Democratic opponent will try to “change the subject” to the president.
“If this campaign were a drinking game and you took a shot every time Mikie Sherrill says ‘Trump,’ you’re going to be drunk off your a**,” Ciattarelli quipped.
And …
His last name is pronounced Chet-a-rell-ee. And his given first name is Giacchino.
:
MIKIE SHERRILL
1. She scored a big win in an uncertain primary.
Sherrill emerged from
a brutal six-person primary
for her party’s nod, staving off challenges on the left from progressive rivals and ultimately winning in convincing fashion despite it being a new era in Jersey politics. She was up by about 13 percentage points Tuesday morning.
The four-term congresswoman was boosted by support from some of the state’s top Democrats and powerful county parties. In the past, that would have made her the clear favorite because of the “county line,” a controversial system in which party-backed candidates got top primary ballot placement. But that was
thrown out in a court case
last year, creating a more equal playing field and leading her opponents to attack her as an “establishment” pick running a too-traditional playbook.
Sherrill won
with ease
regardless, winning 15 of 21 counties — including three where she didn’t have the local party’s support.
Mikie Sherrill wins heated and crazy Democratic primary for N.J. governor
The North Jersey congresswoman and former Navy pilot won a crowded and tense Democratic primary.
2. She’s looking to make history.
If she wins in the fall, Sherrill will be only the second female governor in Jersey history. Republican Christie Whitman became the first more than 30 years ago. Sherrill, a mother of four, is also just the fourth female major-party nominee the state has seen.
3. Have you heard she was a Navy pilot?
In case you missed it in her plethora of TV ads, Sherrill is a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor. She flew missions throughout Europe and the Middle East — and even
wore her pilot jacket
in her campaign announcement video It’s a big part of a bio that many top Democrats have praised over the years.
Meanwhile, similar to Massachusetts transplant Murphy, Sherrill hails from out of state. She was born and graduated from high school in Virginia and got her law degree from Georgetown University but has lived in Montclair for more than a decade.
4. She represents parts of North Jersey in Congress after turning her district blue.
Sherrill secured her seat in the U.S. House by flipping North Jersey’s once-red 11th congressional district in
the 2018 “blue wave”
in Trump’s first midterm. It was her first campaign and helped make her a rising star in the Democratic Party.
She’s now in the middle of her seventh year in Congress.
5. What about her platform?
One of her top promises is to build
more affordable housing
. She also wants to increase shared services to
cut taxes
, increase tax credits,
revamp
the state’s school funding formula, and protect abortion rights. And she has vowed stand up to Trump, calling him a threat to democracy.
“I have always fought to upend unfair systems, and I am now going to take on systems that don’t work or only serve special interests in the only way I know how: by running to be your next governor,” Sherrill said in her victory speech Tuesday night.
Critics in the primary
knocked Sherrill
, a relatively moderate Democrat, for relying too much on her résumé and not presenting a detailed platform. They also criticized the campaign cash she took (and
later donated
) from the political fundraising arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and money she
made off stock trades
after being elected to Congress.
Ciattarelli brought up the latter Tuesday, saying she “got filthy rich” during her time in D.C. And he suggested she’d be a continuation of Murphy’s administration.
Sherrill, though, said she’s “ready to shake up the status quo” and said Ciattarelli is simply a “ghost of elections past.”
And …
Her full name is pronounced Mike-ee Sher-uhl. And her given first and middle names are Rebecca Michelle — hence, Mikie.
:
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