Ciattarelli narrows gap with Sherrill in New Jersey governor race

With just 15 days until the November election, the Republican candidate is in one of the only two races for governor this year I feel confident.

“The energy is tight across the state. Reception in minority communities has been excellent, and with prominent Democrats supporting them, that tells you everything you need to know in terms of New Jerseyans wanting change. And this is the whole point of these elections. Change,” Jack Ciattarelli said in an interview with Fox News Sunday this weekend.

Ciattarelli, who is running for the third consecutive term for governor of the Garden State and who nearly upset Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago, has good reason to be optimistic that he can prevail in blue New Jersey.

In a state where registered Democrats still outnumber Republicans despite rising GOP registrations this decade, three polls released last week — by Fox News, Quinnipiac University and Fairleigh Dickinson University — showed Ciattarelli closing the gap on the Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mickey Sherrill is in the race to succeed Murphy, who is term-limited.

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Fox News poll The October 10–14 poll put Cheryl at 50% support among likely voters and Ciattarelli at 45%. Sherrill's 5-point lead was down from an 8-point lead in the September Fox News poll in New Jersey.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states that hold gubernatorial races within a year of a presidential election, and the contests traditionally attract huge attention and are seen as political barometers ahead of next year's midterm elections.

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And this year they are seen in part as referendums on the choice of president. Donald Trump an unprecedented and explosive second term agenda.

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial races, winning five of the last 10 elections.

And Trump made significant gains in New Jersey in last year's presidential election, losing the state by just six percentage points, a significant improvement from his 16-point deficit four years earlier.

Chiattarelli, Fox News Digital interview Last week in Bayonne, New Jersey, he noted that he had “made great strides” in his 2021 campaigns “in Hudson and Passaic counties,” two longtime Democratic Party strongholds.

“And the president did very, very well in '24 in those same districts. And if you look at those who support me, including some very prominent Democrats here in Hudson County, people want change,” Ciattarelli said.

But Ciattarelli is also seeking to energize Republican voters in what is likely to be a low-turnout election.

Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump will hold a televised rally with Ciattarelli ahead of Election Day. Trump's collaboration with Ciattarelli could help galvanize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low propensity voters and often skip voting in non-presidential election years.

And last week, at a crowded diner in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, Ciattarelli was joined by Vivek RamaswamyMAGA rock star who is running for governor in his home state of Ohio next year.

Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and conservative commentator who promoted an “America First 2.0” platform when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 before abandoning his candidacy and becoming one of Trump's top supporters and surrogates, said Fox News Digital that Ciattarelli's win this year would “set the stage for even bigger and more decisive wins, hopefully next year, in places like Ohio.”

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Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, commenting on why Republicans are optimistic about the New Jersey standoff, expressed concern.

“New Jersey is probably the best place for Donald Trump to actually stop the Democratic momentum — or at least minimize the Democratic momentum that we have seen throughout this year,” Martin said in a statement. Political interview.

But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) projects Sherrill's victory in two weeks.

“With multiple polls showing her with a comfortable lead at over 50% of the vote, Mikie Sherrill is preparing to meet the moment in this incredibly competitive race,” DGA spokesman Izzy Levy told Fox News. “It is clear that Micah has momentum and that New Jersey voters are poised to reject Ciattarelli for a third time this November.”

Cheryl was accompanied on the campaign trail this weekend by a host of major Democratic Party surrogates, including two of the party's biggest names: the governors. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Wes Moore of Maryland.

“From Maryland to New Jersey, we are united in one goal – making sure every voice is heard at the ballot box,” Moore wrote on social media. “Proud to support @MikieSherrill and community members in Newark to get out the vote. Let's make it big this November!”

And former President Barack Obama supported Cheryl and starred in a new ad for the party's candidate.

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Although Trump is not on the ballot, he is a big factor in the New Jersey gubernatorial election.

At the second and final debate two weeks ago, Sherrill said her GOP opponent “showed no sign of standing up to this president. In fact, the President himself called Jack a 100% MAGA, and he has shown every sign of being one.”

When asked if he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of the New Jersey movement.”

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When asked to rate the president's performance during his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I would definitely give the president an A.” I think he's right in everything he does.”

“I think this tells us everything we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli is supporting. I give it an A right now,” Sherrill responded, pointing out the high cost of living in New Jersey.

The New Jersey race was rocked a couple of weeks ago by reports that the National Personnel Records Center, which is a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, mistakenly gave ally Ciattarelli incorrectly redacted Cheryl military records that included personal information such as her Social Security number.

But Cheryl's military records revealed that the U.S. Naval Academy barred her from taking part in the 1994 graduation exam because of a cheating scandal.

The conflict reignited two weeks ago after Cheryl said Ciattarelli was “complicit” with pharmaceutical companies in the opioid deaths of tens of thousands of New Jerseyans when she pointed to a medical publishing company he owned that promoted content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain.

Last week, Trump launched a political hand grenade into the race by “stopping” billions of federal dollars from the Gateway Project, which is funding a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York.

Sherrill, holding a news conference Thursday at a major commuter rail station just a few miles from where tunnels are being built in one of the nation's busiest rail corridors, called the project “critical,” taking aim at Trump and Ciattarelli.

“I fight for the people of New Jersey. He is fighting to exonerate Trump. This is unacceptable,” Cheryl said.

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New Jersey traditionally elects a governor from the party out of power in the White House, which this year favors Democrats.

But Garden State voters have not elected a governor from the same party in three straight elections in more than half a century, which would have favored Republicans.

One of these political trends will be upended in next month's elections.