Staking his ground as a tax cutter who promises to cut state spending, make sweeping changes in New Jersey’s public schools, and keep the government “out of the way of parents,” Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman who nearly ousted Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021, announced tonight that he would run for governor next year.
“It’s time for bold, competent, serious leadership; leadership determined to fix our state,” Ciattarelli said. “It’s time for a Jersey guy who understands what people are up against every day.”
As governor, Ciattarelli pledged to cap property taxes at 1% of the assessed value, lower business taxes, and freeze property taxes for seniors. He said he’d pay for tax cuts by reducing the “size and cost of state government.”
“We will finally break Trenton’s addiction to spending and debt,” he said.
Without mentioning Murphy, Ciattarelli said that a quarter-century of one-party rule was responsible “for the mess we’re in.”
He blasted “sky-high taxes, spending, and debt, the worst business climate in America, a state impossible to retire in, overdeveloped suburbs, handcuffs on our local police, (and) windmills off our Jersey Shore.”
“COVID-era policies that killed veterans in nursing homes, robbed people of their freedoms, destroyed businesses, and caused significant learning loss in our children,” Ciattarelli said.
The 62-year-old certified public accountant and businessman said he wants to be a governor who thinks big and acts boldly.
“The days of nibbling around the edges and kicking the can down the road are over,” said Ciattarelli. “The days of settling for crumbs brushed off the table by ruling Democrats are done.”
Ciattarelli also promised to revamp public school curriculum.
“We’ll do that by respecting the role of parents, ensuring age-appropriate lessons, focusing on basic skills, and providing more vocational training because not all children want or need to go to college,” he said.
He vowed to adopt a new school funding formula that “treats suburban taxpayers fairly, while promoting educational savings accounts, vouchers, and school choice — all to free children and families from failing schools.”
He also didn’t invoke the names of his two main rivals for the Republican nomination, State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and NJ 101.5 radio personality Bill Spadea, but he took aim at both of them in his announcement speech.
“What we need is a Republican candidate who can win. One who brings a very special positive energy to the campaign. And one benefits all Republican candidates down ballot,” stated Ciattarelli. “A candidate who understands that campaigns are won by addition, not subtraction or division; a candidate who can unite our party – not one who calls moderate Republicans ‘RINOS’ or calls Trump supporters ‘crazies.’”
To win, Ciattarelli maintains, the GOP Needs a candidate “with a message that attracts unaffiliated, Independent voters – not one who repels them with personal insults and extreme rhetoric.”
Ciattarelli also boldly called for term limits for state legislators, a move that might be popular with voters but would face opposition from lawmakers of both parties.
“Like our Governors, we will limit state legislators to no more than eight years in any office,” he said in an announcement speech at the historic American Hotel in Freehold. “Let me be clear. We have some excellent long-serving legislators in Trenton. But, as someone who voluntarily term-limited himself at the local, county, and state level, I believe change is something we must embrace, not fear.”
With a federal judge weighing the future of organization lines and ballot design in New Jersey, the circumstances of Ciattarelli’s new campaign for governor may be changing. In 2021, he scored endorsements from every Republican county organization in the state and swept all 21 counties in the primary, becoming the first first-time GOP gubernatorial candidate in over 100 years to achieve that.
Ciattarelli’s entry into the governor’s race came as no surprise. Ten days after the 2021 election, he conceded his defeat by just three percentage points and 84,286 votes and instantly announced his intention to run again. This is his third gubernatorial bid after losing a GOP primary in 2017; Ciattarelli has been a non-stop candidate for the last eight years.
Unlike his 2017 and 2021 runs, Ciattarelli starts his campaign this time as a supporter of Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency.
Ciattarelli sharply criticized Gov. Chris Christie’s frequent absences from the state while seeking the presidency and then campaigning for Trump in 2016. He told Christie to either focus on New Jersey or resign.
Five years later, Christie largely avoided Ciattarelli’s bid to unseat Murphy; with the former governor’s approval ratings at rock bottom, Ciattarelli didn’t care. Still, Ciattarelli was hurt by Christie privately telling potential donors, including the Republican Governors Association, that the race was unwinnable for the GOP.
In a video message released today, Bramnick, an anti-Trump moderate, said he’s won legislative races in a Democratic district and can win a general election in New Jersey.
“We should never be the party of one man – and you know who I’m talking about,” Bramnick said. “So let’s get together and let’s start winning again.”
More Republicans could wind up in the race, especially if organization lines go away. Former State Sen. Edward Durr (R-Logan) told the New Jersey Globe this week that he has not ruled out running for governor next year.
Ciattarelli was 27-years-old when he won his 1989 council race on his second try. He was the top vote-getter in that race, running about 150 votes ahead of Democrat John Lamaestra, the council president, and about 250 votes in front of former Councilman Mark Pellechio, a Democrat. Ciattarelli had lost in 1988 by about 100 votes to Democrat Van Van Houten. He spent six years on the borough council.
After Somerset Country Freeholder Kenneth Scherer announced he would not seek re-election in 2006, Ciattarelli became a candidate for his seat. He defeated four other Republicans to win the organization line at a time when the GOP still dominated Somerset County politics.
In 2011, legislative redistricting moved Assemblywoman Denise Coyle (R-Bernards) from the 16th district to the 21st, giving Ciattarelli a chance to win election to the New Jersey Legislature. He was elected three times in a district that included Democratic strongholds of Princeton and South Brunswick; he won his last election by 534 votes in a race where Democrat Andrew Zwicker (D-South Brunswick) unseated a GOP incumbent by 78 votes.
He owned a medical publishing company before selling his business and becoming a full-time candidate.
Ciattarelli would not be the first governor to win on his third try. Jim Florio lost the 1977 Democratic primary, was narrowly beaten in the 1981 general election, and coasted to a 61% victory in 1989.
Democrats have not won three consecutive gubernatorial elections since 1961, when Superior Court Judge Richard J. Hughes staged a come-from-behind upset against Republican James Mitchell, who served as U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Eisenhower administration. Hughes made up ground when Mitchell was sidelined for a month in the fall after breaking his leg.