What Makes Jersey Run: Ciattarelli chats about Trump, taxes, and more after his big primary win

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A post-primary Q&A with Jack Ciattarelli

Jersey’s huge primary is over, the dust has settled (well, mostly), and an already combative general election to become the state’s next governor is underway between Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill.

More on all of that later. First, I wanted to do entrance interviews with the freshly crowned nominees. To talk about their platforms and possible pitfalls.

Let’s start with Ciattarelli, the former lawmaker who has much of the last decade running for governor. It’s his third straight campaign and the second straight time he nabbed the GOP nod. (I know, because I’ve covered all three of them.)

Now, Ciattarelli — who rolled in the Republican primary with a 46-point victory — is hoping to do what he couldn’t quite pull off four years ago: win the seat. This time, it’s not a fight against Gov. Phil Murphy, the man he nearly beat in 2021, but a battle to take over for the term-limited Democrat set to leave office.

Ciattarelli is waging it at the dawn of Donald Trump‘s second presidency. Once a Trump critic, Ciattarelli now has the president’s enthusiastic endorsement. Is he facing a case of: What helpeth in the primary hurteth in the general in this Democratic-leaning state? Or are voters more keen on giving the red party a chance after eight years of blue rule and after Trump helped turn the state more purple last year? A big question is how much Ciattarelli will try to turn the focus from Trump to state issues and his own experience. Sherrill has already sought to nationalize the race, attacking Ciattarelli as a “Trump lackey.”

I hope to chat with Sherrill soon. But here’s what Ciattarelli told me — about why he’s bullish about his third bid, why he’s evolved on Trump, how much he agrees with the president, whether he’d welcome the National Guard at the Jersey Shore, where he stands on the federal GOP spending bill, how he expects Trump to hold a rally for him, and what he likes on his pizza ...

Q: Congrats on the nomination. That was a sizable victory.

JC: “I’m so very happy for my team. They worked so very hard. And the other thing I’m very happy about is the tabulations tell us that the party’s united. And we’ve had magnificent party registration gains in the last four years, but we still are the minority party and we don’t win unless we’re united. We now are."

Q: That was actually one of my questions. Your primary rival, Bill Spadea, has suggested he won’t back you. Is there a concern about winning over his supporters?

JC: “Listen, he did not support me in 2021. I didn’t expect him to support me here in 2025. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to win. You know, as I speak to often, the landscape is very, very different today. There are a great many Republicans who didn’t vote in 2021 just because they didn’t believe we could win. They now know otherwise. If you take a look at party registrations over the past 53 months, you see enormous gains — very significant gains in Republican registrations. And I will tell you: As I go around the state, there are a great many soft Democrats that will not be voting for a Democratic candidate this time around. They’ve had it.”

Q: Why should voters elect a Republican governor this time? Why are you a better choice than Sherrill?

JC: "Mikie Sherrill is Murphy 2.0. She has endorsed every one of Phil Murphy’s failed policies. She hasn’t criticized a single one of them. And make no mistake: Those policies have all been failures. And that’s why we so desperately need change. We’re still the worst place in the country to do business. We have the highest property taxes in the nation. Performance in our K through 12 (public school system), we’ve slipped from 2 to 12 on the national report card. We’re over-developing our suburbs. Nonviolent crime is through the roof because of the way our police are handcuffed. And I never hear once Mikie Sherrill saying that she’s going to change any of the policies that have caused all that to happen. And so if people want a continuance of Phil Murphy policies, I guess they’ll vote for Mikie Sherrill. But my sense as I go around the state is people desperately want change. And that’s what my candidacy provides."

(NOTE: The 12th place school ranking is in the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progresss report. The state ranks higher in other reviews.)

Q: What is the first thing you do after you win and get sworn in?

JC: “Executive order number one is not allowing any town in our state to be a sanctuary city, nor will we be a sanctuary state. I believe that only encourages illegal immigration. And then next, I appoint an attorney general that supports me in us not having sanctuary cities and us not being a sanctuary state. And that attorney general also has to have the back of law enforcement and remove some of the directives that, in my opinion, have made life more challenging for local police."

(NOTE: Click here to see where both Ciattarelli and Sherrill stand on immigration enforcement.)

Q: How has your platform changed since the last time you were the GOP nominee?

JC: “We’re still talking about property taxes. We’re still talking about making New Jersey a better place to do business. Still talking about New Jersey being a better place to retire. We’re still talking about supporting law enforcement, changing the public school curriculum, and stopping the order of development in our suburbs. All of those issues were simmering back in 2021. They’re now at a complete boil. And the biggest difference is that the landscape has changed. I’m not competing with a pandemic or a shelter-in-place order. I’m not going up against an incumbent. And there’s a lot less indifference in the community toward a Republican candidate. And all that, in my mind, if we execute — and we will — points to a victory.”

(NOTE: Click here to see where both Ciattarelli and Sherrill stand on property taxes and education.)

Q: You’ve compared yourself to JD Vance on your evolution on Trump. Is that how you see yourself?

JC: “No, I’ve never said exactly that. What I have said, when people question me about my position on Donald Trump, I said: Listen, back in 2015, a whole lot of people said a whole lot of things about Donald Trump, including Marco Rubio, who’s now secretary of state, and JD Vance, who’s the vice president of the United States. The president is doing what needs to be done to keep our country safe. Illegal crossings are down 99%. If that doesn’t demonstrate that leadership matters, what does? That was not the case when Joe Biden was the president. And by the way, Mikie Sherrill supported Joe Biden’s open border policies."

Q: Do you feel at all you’ll need to pivot away from Trump to win over independents? Or is that not a concern?

JC: “Not a concern one bit. He got 500,000 more votes than Phil Murphy did in 2021. He’s polling seven points better than Phil Murphy here in New Jersey. And he’s taking policy positions that are extremely popular with New Jerseyans. He stopped the wind farms off the Jersey Shore. He’s beating up on the New York Democrats over congestion pricing. He’s willing to quadruple the SALT deduction on our federal tax returns, which is critically important considering what our property taxes are. These are wildly popular positions with New Jerseyans."

Q: Is there anything you disagree with the president on?

JC: “Right now, I do not. He’s doing what needs to be done to keep the country safe. My job is to keep our state safe. We do that by getting rid of sanctuary cities, not being a sanctuary state, and me putting in place an attorney general that’s not turning around wasting taxpayer dollars suing the White House."

Q: I don’t know if it would ever get to this point in Jersey, but Gavin Newsom didn’t want National Guard troops sent into California over the deportation protests. Would you be OK with the president doing that here?

JC: “If the National Guard presence would have stopped the flash mobs from developing on our Jersey Shore over the Memorial Day weekend, if a National Guard presence would stop the curfews along the Jersey Shore, which ruin the Jersey Shore economy, listen, I’m all for more law enforcement presence."

Q: Do you support the Republican federal spending bill being weighed in Congress (the plan Trump calls the “one, big, beautiful bill”)? Are you worried it would hurt New Jerseyans?

JC: “What I’m concerned about most, given that New Jersey is a donor state — which means we send billions more to Washington, D.C. than we get back — we want the SALT deduction back. And that bill quadruples the current SALT deduction, which is critically important to New Jerseyans.”

(NOTES: Estimates show the bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives, could remove thousands of Jerseyans from health care. And here’s the latest on SALT, which is currently in limbo as the Senate makes changes to the proposal.)

Q: Is there at all a concern about how the costs would be shifted to state government? Would that make it difficult to put a state budget together?

JC: “I don’t see that. I think people are using a whole bunch of scare tactics when it comes to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. And by the way, the best way to protect those programs is to eliminate the fraud in those programs. But this reminds me an awful lot of when the far left was criticizing Bill Clinton for transitioning welfare to workfare. They claim that people be in the streets, that there’d be homelessness, that people be dying. That didn’t happen. So we’ve seen the same scare tactics this time around."

Q: Even if you flip the state Assembly, which I know is a goal of yours this fall, the Democrats will still hold the state Senate for two years. How do you work with Democrats in Trenton?

JC: “Number one, I have relationships. That doesn’t mean we’re always in perfect agreement, but we have relationships that are in place, and that’s critically important. But as governor, I have an awful lot of leverage given that our state constitution gives our governor a great deal of executive power. So I think there’s room for negotiation if the Democratic majority in the Senate doesn’t want to work in cooperation with me. But one thing I’ll remind them is: I was very specific about my agenda and I won the election, and elections have outcomes. And so let’s work together to get this agenda enacted.”

Q: Phil Murphy said he would fix NJ Transit if it killed him. NJ Transit still has issues. Is it fixable?

JC: “It is fixable, but we have to hit the reset button. Phil Murphy didn’t hit the reset button. All he did was give it more money. And I think that we need to build it from the ground up. Again, evaluating every single bus and train route.”

Q: Every candidate says they want to lower property taxes and cut spending. How do you actually do that?

JC: “First thing people have to know is that a $400,000 house in Newark does not pay the same school property tax as a $400,000 house in any one of our suburban towns. In fact, in Newark, it’s much less on the school tax portion of the property tax bill. And that’s because of the amount of state aid they get. That’s something the Supreme Court doesn’t know. I believe it’s unfair. I believe it violates the equal benefit clause of our state constitution that says no community is supposed to suffer at the expense of another. And it’s the reason why we need a new school funding formula. In theory, every single ... house should pay about the same in school property taxes. And so with a new school funding formula, we can indeed lower property taxes in our suburban communities and get all communities on parents with regard to their property tax bill."

Q: Can you clarify your stance on abortion? Are you pro-choice to a point?

JC: “I think that I’ve been very, very clear about this. Number one, we’re not going to make New Jersey the abortion capital of America. That’s something Phil Murphy wants to do and something that Mikie Sherrill supports. We’re not going to invite other people from other states into New Jersey to have their abortion performed here and have taxpayers pay for it. That’s something else that Mikie Sherrill supports. We’re not going to celebrate abortion. Abortion is a very, very serious matter. And so the other thing that I fully support, which my opponent does not, is parental notification. You can’t get your ears pierced in this state if you’re under the age of 18 without the permission of your parents. But yet we’re not going to notify parents of a 16- or 17-year-old is going for an abortion. I do support the pain threshold bill which has been submitted by two of our most conservative Republican state senators, which basically follows the science in saying that a developing fetus starts to feel pain after 20 weeks. So let’s have a discussion about a 20-week limit. I don’t think anybody in New Jersey, quite frankly, thinks that a woman should be able to wake up in months seven, eight or nine and say, I no longer want to carry this pregnancy.”

Q: Former Gov. Christie Whitman, who left the Republican Party, has endorsed Mikie Sherrill over you. Were you surprised?

JC: "Christine Todd Whitman hates Donald Trump and takes it out on any other Republican who doesn’t express the same hate."

Q: She said you’ve changed from the person she knew many years ago.

JC: “The person who’s changed is Christine Todd Whitman.”

Q: Do you expect the president to campaign for you, maybe with a rally like he held in Wildwood last year?

JC: "I do. He’s offered to do just that, and I certainly welcome him on the campaign trail."

Q: Tell me one thing you admire about Mikie Sherrill.

JC: “Certainly. As a fellow parent of four children, that’s our greatest responsibility of all. And it seems that her and her husband have done a very good job of raising their children.”

Q: So now some rapid-fire Jersey-centric questions. What topping do you put on your pizza, if any?

JC: "Anchovy with no cheese."

Q: I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before.

JC: “Oh, it is wonderful. That and a glass of Chianti. It’s heaven.”

Q: What’s your favorite pizza place?

JC: “Delucia’s in Raritan.”

Q: You grew up there, right?

JC: “I grew up there. And for the past 50 years, we spent every Friday night at Delucia’s with the family, enjoying pizza and each other’s company.”

Q: What’s your order at a bagel place?

JC: “Lox and cream cheese on a poppy bagel.”

Q: Toasted or not toasted?

JC: “Not toasted.”

Q: If someone has two hours to visit New Jersey, where do you recommend they go and what they do?

JC: “The Jersey Shore, and particularly Long Beach Island. It’s magnificent.”

Q: I know you’re a Yankees fan, but in football, are you Jets, Giants or Eagles?

JC: “I’m the Green Bay Packers. I was a very, very proud Italian American and we rooted for the Yankees because of Joe DiMaggio. And the Packers because of Vince Lombardi, who, by the way, is from New Jersey and is buried in New Jersey."

Q: Your first name is actually Giacchino. Have you always gone by Jack?

JC: “Always gone by Jack. You know, if you look at my birth certificate or my license, it says Giacchino. ... That’s why some Italians are called John if they’re Giacomo. Those Italians that are called Jack many times are Giacchino. But our nickname in our hometown is “Chet” — short for Ciattarelli.”

Q: One more time for the people who don’t know: What is the exact pronunciation of your last name?

JC: “Chet-ah-rell-ee.”

Q: Do you have people come up to you and not know how to pronounce it?

JC: “Absolutely. See-at-ah-rell-ee. Chick-ah-rell-ee. Chich-ah-rell-ee. You know, when real Italians come up to me and say Chet-ah-rell-ee, they got it perfect.”

ADDENDUM: A few days after our interview, Ciattarelli spoke with reporters before an event in Somerset. I asked him about the uncertainty of whether SALT will make the final Republican federal spending bill.

“Fact of the matter is: New Jersey has been subsidizing 48 other states for decades. ... So I don’t want to hear talk about not increasing the SALT over the fact that other states would therefore be subsidizing New Jersey.”

I also asked him one more time whether he has fears about Jerseyans losing their health care under the measure.

“I do not. Getting rid of fraud in Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security is the best way to protect Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.”

Hot takes

• Happy Juneteenth. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice marked the occasion by releasing the findings of a study looking at reparations and the legacy of slavery in the state.
• Here’s what Gov. Phil Murphy had to say about the two nominees running to replace him, Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democratic Mikie Sherrill: “These are two really credible candidates,” the outgoing Democrat said on his latest WBGO radio show. “If folks want to have a heavyweight fight for who succeeds me, I think you couldn’t have two better folks in the ring.” He said Ciattarelli — who almost upset him last time — is a “formidable” contender and said Sherrill “won really well against a very tough, talented field” in the Dem primary. “This will be a very close, tight race,” Murphy added. His pick to win: Sherrill.
• Let the polling — well, internal polling — begin. Ciattarelli’s campaign released a survey it commissioned showing him trailing Sherrill 45% to 42% in the newly set general election for governor. To them, that’s a good thing. Yes, it’s the same 3-percentage-point difference that Ciattarelli lost to Murphy last time, and the state still leans blue. But it’s within the margin of error and better than the 12-point deficit Ciattarelli’s first post-primary internal survey showed in 2021. The survey also found 54% of likely voters believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, compared to 33% who think it’s on the right track. “Make no mistake that this is a ‘CHANGE’ election and Ciattarelli is the CHANGE candidate,” said the memo that accompanied the poll, conducted in the two days after the primary. Of course, internal polls can be biased. And Sherrill led in virtually every poll in the Democratic primary, public and internal, and ended up winning the party’s nod with ease. Also, a separate, pre-primary poll from left-leaning group Democrats for Education Reform and conducted by SurveyUSA found Sherrill up 51% to 38% over Ciattarelli.
• Let the endorsements begin, too. In 2021, the powerful International Union of Operating Engineers Local backed Gov. Murphy for re-election over Ciattarelli — the second straight time they supported Murphy. Four years later, they’re going with Ciattarelli over Sherrill. “Jack Ciattarelli understands New Jersey and what needs to be done to fix our great state,” Greg Lalevee, the union’s business manager, said. Sherrill, meanwhile, nabbed the support of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, another big union. “Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill has always stood shoulder-to-shoulder with New Jersey’s working people,” Charles Wowkanech, the union’s president, said.
• So how are insiders feeling? I conducted a very early, very unscientific temperature check on what the Trenton brain trust on both sides thinks about November’s election. Most agree the outcome will depend what voters think about Donald Trump in September and October. One Dem insider said “the chaos” from D.C. favors the blue side because “the bones of New Jersey are slightly Democratic” and “I’m not seeing what you need for a big red wave in New Jersey.” Another Dem put it this way: “I’d rather be her than Jack. ... A third term of Murphy protects you from Trump.” Third terms, though, are notoriously tough. No party has won the governor’s office here three straight terms in 64 years. But one Dem operative said “politics are more national than they’ve ever been” and Democrats are “incredibly amped up” with Trump and Republicans controlling all branches in Washington. Still, Murphy broke another trend in 2021 when he won despite Dems holding a trifecta in the nation’s capital. One Republican insider noted the state is already trending “purplish.” And a GOP operative said voters “tend to punish people in power.” That brings us to another thing people agree on: Expect the contest to be brutal and close. Which reminds me ...
• Eight days in, and it’s already a nasty fight. The first week of the general election saw Sherrill slam Ciattarelli for backing the divisive Republican spending bill in Congress, saying it “slashes health care and raises costs.” He knocked her for supporting indicted U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, saying McIver acted “inappropriately.” There’s more: Ciattarelli launched a website and web ads alleging Sherrill made millions off stock trades while in Congress — an argument Sherrill’s Dem rivals made in the primary but Jack is expected to make a central argument. Meanwhile, Sherrill — a more careful, or less combative, candidate — made a pair of appearances at the anti-Trump “No Kings Day” protests. In Montclair, she warned that Ciattarelli will be “in lockstep” with Trump. In Morristown, she was joined on stage by former Gov. Christie Whitman, an ex-Republican who served as New Jersey’s only female governor and endorsed Sherrill las week.
• Ciattarelli zeroed in on something else about that Morristown rally — a sign in the crowd reading “86/47.” The message is common among Trump resisters. They say it simply implies they want Trump out of office. Republicans say it’s more sinister, implying they want to eliminate — or “eighty-six” — the 47th president, who was the subject of two assassination attempts last year. Former FBI Director James Comey recently got a visit from the feds after posting the message. Ciattarelli called on Sherrill to “explicitly and forcefully denounce” the sign at the rally. Jack allies point out it was displayed the same day as the Minnesota lawmaker shootings and compared it to how Ciattarelli was lambasted by the left four years ago for attending a “Stop the Steal” rally. Sherrill did not respond to Ciattarelli’s post. But a Dem operative noted that with his 2021 “Stop the Steal” appearance, Ciattarelli was supporting a movement “set off a violent insurrection that cost the lives of police officers, and then got caught lying about it, so he might want to sit this one out.” Ciattarelli said at the time he wasn’t aware of that rally’s message and didn’t see the signs on display there.
• Sherrill took aim at Ciattarelli over a recent TV interview when he was asked if he’d challenge Trump should the president violate the U.S. Constitution. “I think our governor should be working in partnership with the president, keeping the country safe,” Ciattarelli replied. Sherrill released a statement saying “a baseline responsibility of New Jersey’s governor is to stand up for the people of our state. Jack Ciattarelli continues to lack the backbone to lead.” Asked about that, Ciattarelli said: “What’s interesting is that Mikie Sherrill never criticizes Phil Murphy for any of his failed policies." Sherrill disagreed: “I’ve been pretty clear on how I’d be different from Phil Murphy,” saying she’s “upset” about energy cost hikes, a lack of housing, rising costs in the state health care plan.
• Ciattarelli, meanwhile, seized on a TV interview Sherrill gave last month, when she was asked to name one piece of legislation she’d like to pass. Sherrill takes a moment to answer, before settling on bringing “a federal block grant back” to the state “to run some really key programs and innovate on them.” Ciattarelli’s campaign posted a clip of her response — or, more accurately, mocking the silence before the response. “Forget not having solutions to our state’s problems,” Ciattarelli wrote. “Mikie doesn’t even know what they are.”
• Sherrill recently drew attention from her perch in the U.S. House, grilling U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what she said is “months of dangerous dysfunction and incompetence” in the department. Hegseth pushed back, saying “I would suggest not believing every headline you read.” One Jersey Dem insider told me the exchange had “zero to do” with her running for governor, but criticizing the Trump administration is “wildly popular right now” and could boost her even if Ciattarelli tries to make the race about state issues. “You may end up seeing people gravitating to the politics of the moment,” the source said.
• Asked what she thought of Trump’s military parade, Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, had just four words: “I didn’t watch it.”
• Ciattarelli and Sherrill made a joint appearance in what has become a Garden State gubernatorial race tradition: giving separate speeches at the New Jersey Business and Industry Association’s post-primary conference. Ciattarelli said a goal to to make Jersey “a better place to do business,” adding he would bring back a state Department of Energy, push for more natural gas, gradually scale back state corporate taxes. Sherrill said she wants to cut red tape, make Jersey a “leader in advanced technology research,” and produce more nuclear and solar energy. One surprise: Neither took a verbal swing at the other. Click here to read more on the speeches from my colleague Jelani Gibson.
• Let’s talk about running mates. I’m told a favorite for Sherrill’s lieutenant governor pick is state Sen. Benjie Wimberly. One insider said Wimberly is a “very likely choice,” noting he would “compliment her in a lot of ways.” Another insider said Wimberly is a “team player” that “everybody likes.” Other names in the mix: state Sens. Troy Singleton and Vin Gopal and Metuchen Mayor Jonathan Busch. Most insiders believe Sherrill will go with a minority male. They don’t expect it to be Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who finished second to Sherrill in the primary.
• As for Jack’s LG? For a week, Republican insiders have told me state Sens. Holly Schepisi and Kristin Corrado are on the list. So is Monmouth County Clerk Christine Hanlon. And I heard three other names this week: state Sen. Mike Testa, state Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, and John Harmon, president of the state’s African American Chamber of Commerce. But it’s not clear who actually wants the job. One GOP operative told me Corrado and Testa may be the leaders. Corrado, the source said, has won in blue Passaic County, an area that went more red last year, and Testa could draw votes from South Jersey. “It’s not just gender or race,” the operative said, “but identity as a whole.” The nominees have until July 28 to make their picks.
• Testa has also been floated as a possible challenger to U.S. Sen. Cory Booker next year. And the South Jersey Republican recently went after the Democrat on social media over the unrest in Los Angeles. Testa even mockingly called him “Spartacus” — a nod to how Booker quoted the famous movie during a 2018 speech.
• A question lingers from the Republican governor primary: Will Bill Spadea and his allies support Ciattarelli in the general election? Ciattarelli can’t afford to lose GOP votes if he wants to win in the fall. But the candidates were vicious rivals and Spadea suggested he’d have a hard time endorsing him. Spadea still hasn’t conceded and didn’t say anything publicly about the outcome until a social media post on Father’s Day: “Ignore all the misinformation and nastiness coming from the other side. They fear our principled and focused movement so they continue to attack, disparage and lie. Announcements on future plans coming soon. BTW, happy to disappoint the haters, but we aren’t going ANYWHERE.” Ciattarelli told reporters Tuesday he hasn’t heard from Spadea, nor does he expect to.
• A last-ditch push for a pardon from Trump apparently didn’t work. Former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, the Jersey Democrat convicted last year on corruption charges, was set to report to prison on Tuesday. He will now live at a federal facility in eastern Pennsylvania. Gov. Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, said during his radio show that “it’s an awful, self-imposed tragic end to what was a pretty damn impressive career of public service.” Technically, Menendez could still get clemency down the road, either from Trump or the next president. In the meantime, check out WHYY reporter Nancy Solomon‘s “Dead End” podcast about Menendez’s downfall.
• With the primary over, Trenton now turns its attention to the next big thing: passing a new state budget. The deadline is June 30 — just 10 days away. Final negotiations usually come down to the wire and there will be the usual talks about why leaders rush the final bill through and uproar over how much money was tacked on for lawmakers’ pet projects. But fear of a possible state government shutdown have dissipated. “I think we’re gonna work things out,” one legislative source told me. Murphy said during his radio show Wednesday night that there’s still a “lot of horse-trading to be done” with legislative leaders over the budget but said negotiations center on “the margins” of the budget. The governor is not expected to get all of the tax hikes he asked for, especially the “fun taxes” on bowling, batting cases, laser tag, and more. But there’s room for compromise on others. And Murphy is keen on keeping the surplus at about $6 billion. There’s also still the shadow of big cuts in federal aid, including billions to fund Medicaid the state would have to make up. Another legislative source said the goal is to “figure out what’s essential and triage.” But a Murphy source said federal cuts are more likely a next-year problem, when a new governor takes over.
• A caller phoned in to Murphy’s radio show to complain about how Rutgers University is on pace to lose $65 million under higher education cuts in the governor’s proposed state budget. Murphy said he’s getting “a lot of pressure” to ease the hit to colleges. (Thanks to my colleague Sue Livio for listening to the show and providing these quotes.)
• Also wrapped up in budget talks is the future of Stay NJ, the program spearheaded by state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin to slash property taxes in half for most Jersey seniors. Leaders are expected to approve $600 million to pay for the program’s launch in the second half of the new budget year. But left-leaning think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective just released a report saying leaders should lower the income threshold, boost help for renters, and shave costs, especially amid the threat of federal aid dwindling. Sources say Coughlin is open to discussing a lower income threshold, but it’s unclear whether that would happen this budget or the next, when more than a billion in funding is needed for the program’s first full year. A legislative source said making changes “right now is pretty far down the speaker’s list,” though it’s “not his style to say absolutely not.”
• With immigration an ongoing national flashpoint, Delaney Hall in Newark continues to draw headlines, this time with four detainees escaping from the immigrant detention center and reports circulating about poor conditions. Three of the detainees have since been captured. Meanwhile, federal officials have begun moving some detainees out of the facility. And Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is saying “I told you so” about it all.
• Jersey’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, were incensed about Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California being forcibly removed by federal officials at a press conference by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Booker compared it to Baraka’s arrest and the charges against Jersey U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver over a confrontation at Delaney Hall, calling it “a pattern and a practice” by Trump’s administration that should “outrage every” senator. Kim added: “This is not a time to be silent.”
• I chatted with Ballotpedia’s “On the Ballot” podcast about the massive governor primary and the national implications of this fall’s general election. Watch here.
• During the big gubernatorial primary, we unveiled a new election tool for people to ask questions about the candidates and their platforms. We’ve now updated it for the general election. Click here to check it out.

What others are saying

Some Jersey stories in the news:

• In his latest column for NJ.com, Tom Martello wrote that Mikie Sherrill won big in the Democratic governor primary but could have trouble winning in November.
• NorthJersey.com columnist Charles Stile wondered whether Sherrill can win over progressive Democrats after a bitter primary.
• Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty believes that Sherrill’s victory points the way for the Democratic Party.
• The latest “Friendly Fire” column on NJ.com explores Trump’s ICE raids and more.
• State Attorney General Matthew Platkin is formally appealing over the dropped corruption charges against Democratic powerbroker George Norcross, as reported by my colleague Colleen Murphy on NJ.com.
• So what would happen to Sherrill’s House seat if she becomes governor? NJ Spotlight News broke it down. Joey Fox of the New Jersey Globe looked at the possible contenders, as well. Democratic former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski told Fox he’d be interested.
• Politico’s Madison Fernandez examined how women candidates — and not just Sherrill — had a good primary.
• Fox and Zach Blackburn of the Globe also analyzed the results of the gubernatorial and state Assembly primaries.
• State Senate President Nick Scutari, D-Union, is floating a bill to limit how long future gubernatorial cabinet members can serve without Senate confirmation, as reported by Politico’s Matt Friedman.
• Platkin, the attorney general, ordered more police patrols across the state after the Minnesota lawmaker shootings, as I reported on NJ.com.
• Two Republican Jersey congressmen — Jeff Van Drew and Tom Kean Jr. — are taking issue with U.S. Senate changes to the GOP federal spending bill, as reported by the Globe.
• With energy bills set to rise, the state’s top four electric companies will shave $60 from customers’ bills during summer’s hottest months, as reported by NJ.com.
• A judge rejected another bid from Jersey towns to block parts of the state’s affordable housing mandate, though they did get some relief, as reported by The Daily Record.
• The state Supreme Court ruled that journalists are not exempt from a state law limiting the public release of addresses and phone numbers of police, prosecutors and judges. Read more from NJ.com.
• U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins offered support to a 175-year-old family farm in Cranbury trying to fight off the local government from seizing the land, as reported by NJ.com.
• The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case stemming from Platkin’s investigation into a crisis pregnancy center operator in Jersey. Read more from Politico.
• A little bit of news mixing baseball and politics: The late U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a massive Yankees fan and a longtime coach for the Democratic congressional team, was inducted into the Congressional Baseball Hall of Fame, as reported by the Globe.

Tweet of the week

Did you know?

I noted in the Q&A above that Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli‘s given first name is Giacchino. His Democratic challenger, Mikie Sherrill, also goes by a nickname. Her given full name: Rebecca Michelle Sherrill.

About this newsletter

Welcome to What Makes Jersey Run, a weekly newsletter for anyone interested in the always-lively world of Jersey politics and America’s most important governor’s race in 2025. Join NJ.com‘s award-winning political reporter Brent Johnson as he gives you the inside look at what really happens behind the scenes in a state rife with scandal, controversy, and power players (some of whom wind up in jail). Brent, who has been covering the craziness in Trenton for more than a decade and knows who pulls the strings, will deliver his exclusive insights on the state of politics and the big campaign right to your inbox.

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About the author

Brent Johnson is a Central Jersey (yes, it’s real) native who has spent the last 12 years covering politics for NJ.com, winning multiple journalism awards along the way. Before that, he covered local news and sports, including a stint writing about James Madison University athletics in Virginia. He graduated from Rutgers University and sings in a Jersey alt-rock band, The Clydes. Here’s a bit more about him. You can follow him on X at @johnsb01 and email him at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.