Trump-backed Jack Ciattarelli captures GOP nomination for New Jersey governor

HOLMDEL, N.J. — The candidate President Donald Trump recently endorsed in New Jersey has won the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary in the 2025 race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Jack Ciattarelli, a former GOP state lawmaker making his third bid for New Jersey governor, captured 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 Ciattarelli 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 a state Assembly GOP leader.

The Associated Press projected Ciattarelli’s victory less than 20 minutes after the polls closed at 8 p.m. in New Jersey.

TRUMP NOT ON THE BALLOT BUT FRONT-AND-CENTER IN NEW JERSEY PRIMARY 

Ciattarelli, in his victory speech, thanked Trump, who spends summer weekends at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

“To our most well-known part-time New Jersey resident, who honored me with his endorsement and strong support, thank you, President Donald J. Trump,” Ciattarelli said to cheers.

Ciattarelli will face off in November’s general election against Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and a federal prosecutor who the AP projected as the winner of a six-candidate Democratic gubernatorial primary.

“Jack knows what it takes to provide New Jersey families with much-needed relief and has proven that he has the plan to fix New Jersey with commonsense solutions,”  Republican Governors Association Chair Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia, said in a statement.

“Meanwhile, Democrat Mikie Sherrill must defend her failed record in Washington that has led to skyrocketing costs (and) failed schools and left New Jersey families struggling.”

In the GOP primary, Ciattarelli and Spadea spent months trading fire over who was the more loyal Trump supporter

NEW JERSEY PRIMARY EARLY TEST OF TRUMP’S SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT

Last month, the president endorsed Ciattarelli, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 2017. Four years later, he captured the nomination and performed better than expected 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 when he dialed into a tele-rally on the eve of early voting starting in New Jersey.

Trump’s grip over the GOP is stronger than ever after his convincing White House re-election victory in November, and Cittarrelli, in a Fox News Digtal interview last week, said the president’s endorsement was “a really big deal,” adding, “the president’s doing very, very well in New Jersey.”

Spadea said 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,” Spadea added, referencing Trump’s announcement in 2015 ahead of his first presidential campaign.

“There is no question that I am the commonsense conservative. I am the actual Republican in this primary,” Spadea claimed.

And Spadea questioned Ciattarelli’s support for Trump, arguing 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 Trump’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.”

WHAT JACK CIATTARELLI TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL

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, “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.

Ciattarelli is 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 (DGA), 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.”

Minutes after the race was called, DGA senior communications adviser Izzi Levy claimed that “two-time loser Jack Ciattarelli has emerged from this bruising, messy and expensive primary more damaged and out-of-touch than he began. In a transparently self-serving and political move, Ciattarelli spent the past year and a half reinventing himself by going all-in on Trump’s dangerous agenda.”

While New Jersey has long leaned toward 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 held a 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. 

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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.”

And Ciattarelli argued that Sherrill will try to nationalize the race by linking him to Trump.

“Mark my words, while we focus on these key New Jersey issues, my Democratic opponent will do everything in her power to change the subject. Trust me, 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– every day…between now and Nov. 4,” Cittarelli said.