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.
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
Republican — former state Assemblyman, 63
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.
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.
Check out what Ciattarelli told us during the primary:
MIKIE SHERRILL
Democratic nominee — U.S. House member, 53
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.
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.
Check out what Sherrill told us during the primary:
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.