2025 NJ Gubernatorial Election

This contrasted with Jack’s slightly as his main focus this cycle was on the dual issue of lowering property taxes, and utility rates — trying to claim the mantle of making new Jersey more affordable.

However, Ciattarelli also campaigned on issues that are catnip for Republicans — but anathema to Democrats — claiming in his first ad that Sherrill and Murphy cared more about “pronouns and sanctuary cities than solving our problems”

In doing so, this begets his three main attacks on Sherrill to try and cut away the polling edge she had throughout the whole campaign. 

1) Ciattarelli tried to tie Sherrill to Murphy and Trenton Democrats

2) he tried to tie her to the Trans rights movement in an add where she had talked about a 'mandatory LGBT educaion' (while also supporting School Vouchers)

3) he attacked her on her past stock trades (where Sherrill had released she had placed them all into funds where she had little-to-no controll over the purchases)

4) he & the Republican Governor's assosiation attacked Mikie over a combination of her having no plans

and 5) Jack attacked Sherrill over an interview where she had said on green energy "it'll cost you an arm and a leg, but if you're a good person you'll do it"

However, most of these attacks didn’t land, as Sherrill instead focused on attacking Ciattarelli over misleading comments he had made on his discussion of a “ten percent sales tax on everything, even food and clothing” during a non-televised but public event as well as his repeated entreaties to Trump voters — done in an attempt to get them to turn out.

In this sense, Sherrill and the RGA repeatedly attacked Ciattarelli (once considered a moderate in his prior run and during his time in the assembly) on Trump calling him 100% MAGA, & Ciattarelli giving Trump an A in the second debate.

This came up alongside other attacks where the Democratic Governors Association likewise attacked Ciattarelli on opposing the reproductive freedom act, desiring an abortion ban for NJ, and on opposing Gun control. 

The DGA also attacked Ciattarelli on being "1 of [...] 7 legislators who voted to protect parental rights for rapists" running an add that accused him of protecting sex offenders and rapists.

All of this in the forefront even as the news covered two other attacks that didn't make it into adds, Ciarrarelli implying that Mikie Sherrill was involved in the 1994 Naval Academy cheating scandal (emphasizing the fact that Sherrill had not walked at her college graduation) and 

the accusation that Sherrill lobbied at Ciattarelli durring the second debate that he had "killed tens of thousands of people by printing [...] misinformation [and] propaganda" in medical continuing education materials that had recommended to doctors to prescribe Opioids on behalf of Pharma companies

Here, on the Naval academy attack, Sherrill was able to successfully turn it around on Ciattarelli due to the sloppy release of the attack, where the Ciattarelli campaign released personal details of Sherrill's alongside the attack. 

On the second attack, while Sherrill had received criticism from the media for the hyperbole, it completely fell out of the news for the last two weeks of the campaign, with the attacks listed before these final two taking precedence. 

It should be noted here that Mikie also sought to tie Jack Ciattarelli to Trump with a different attack that didn’t make it into ads: his acquiescence and meek positioning on Trump shutting down the bipartisan Gateway tunnel project. Here, on the stump, the once-labled “tunnel obsessed Congresswoman” used it as a major example of how Jack Ciattarelli would be the “Trump of Trenton” and wouldn’t fight for New Jersey.

Outside of the campaigns, the minority gains that Trump had achieved in 2024 became a major point of discussion in the lead-up to the campaign — with combining Jack’s 2021 coalition, with Trump’s 2024 coalition being seen as Ciattarelli’s path to Drumthwacket (the Governor’s mansion) — however the results indicate that the for the most part minorities returned to their pre-2020 margins throughout the state.

With Asians and Latinos zooming back to Democrats almost as fast as the swung towards Trump in 2024, a fact that was likely aided by Mikie Sherrill spending heavily on Spanish Language media, whereas Ciattarelli was all but silent — even as the candidate received a lot of praise for "showing up" to hispanic community events and businesses. 

Beyond this, to the extent such local issues mattered, out of the four Democratic Mayors who endorsed Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign Jim Dodd (D-Dover), Nick Sacco (D-North Bergen), Anthony Frato (D-Branchville) and the Party Switching Everett Garnto Jr (R-Garfield), Mikie Sherrill won three out of four municipalities by commanding Margins (21-30%) and lost the usually GOP Branchville by 14%.

In the end, in addition to relentlessy working the Black vote with Baraka's aid, the main factor that aided Sherrill in attaining her landslide was the unpopularity of Donald J. Trump in the state.

With most polls showing Trump between 10-15% underwater in NJ, and with the final weighted exit polls showing him underwater by 14%, Sherrill's relentless barrage on Ciattarelli's tax comment and being 100% Maga (in addition to voter viewing her positively due to her campaign on her Bio/freezing utility rates)

more successfully tied Jack to the unpopular president than Jack was able to do to the mediocrely unpopular Gov. Murphy (Murphy was underwater by -3% in the final exit polls).