New Jersey gubernatorial candidates Jack Ciattarelli and Rep. Mickey Sherrill (D-NJ) faced off in the final debate of this election cycle, which included personal attacks from Rep. Sherrill, who repeatedly called Ciattarelli a killer while Ciattarelli focused on Rep. Sherrill's questionable investments and posthumous personal attacks on Charlie Kirk.
At one point in the debate, hosted by local ABC affiliate 7, Ciattarelli whistled and muttered to himself, “Desperate!”
Moderator Bill Ritter, a local news anchor, tried to ask questions about a variety of local issues of major concern to New Jersey residents, including the poor state of New Jersey Transit and a crumbling public education system after eight years under radical left-wing Gov. Phil Murphy, a Massachusetts native. Although the candidates presented different points of view on local issues, the debate reached its most intense stage during the discussion of the candidates' personal affairs. At one point, Rep. Sherrill was asked about her position on left-wing political violence in the country, which she claimed to oppose. This provided an opportunity for Ciattarelli to point out that Rep. Sherrill disparaged Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk immediately after his assassination in September.
Representative Sherrill voted pass a bill in September condemning Kirk's murder, but followed it up with a statement in which she falsely claimed that Kirk “advocated the creation of a Christian nationalist government and the abolition of the rights of women and blacks.” [sic] People.”
“She fell short of 90 percent of the vote in Washington,” Ciattarelli noted, but “missed two very important joint appearances in New Jersey to get to Washington, D.C., to vote on the Charlie Kirk resolution honoring his life.”
“I applaud her positive response to this vote. When she returned to New Jersey and went to hell with the left, she issued a statement condemning Charlie Kirk, calling him a misogynist and a racist,” he continued. “To me, those two things don't go together. To tone down hateful rhetoric, you have to have the right leadership.”
The Republican candidate vowed that if elected, he would avoid violent and inflammatory rhetoric, noting: “I have always been respectful, even when I disagree with people. I never intend to tarnish the name my parents gave me, and I never intend to embarrass my four children.”
In response, Cheryl once again attacked Charlie Kirk, falsely claiming that he advocated the abolition of women's rights.
Elsewhere in the debate, Rep. Sherrill denounced Ciattarelli for creating and owning a medical publishing business, saying he personally “killed” people by publishing information that purportedly downplayed the dangers of opioids. The company, she said, “worked with some of the worst criminals and claimed that opioids were safe… published their propaganda.”
“First of all, shame on you,” Ciattarelli responded.
“During the Biden administration, she had no problem with thousands of people crossing our border every day, not knowing the impact they had on our communities regarding the fentanyl crisis, fentanyl abuse, fentanyl distribution, vaccination rates, things like that,” Ciattarelli responded, adding that regarding the claims about his business, “that’s a lie.”
Ciattarelli later taunted MP Cheryl when she repeated her attack, quipping: “I had to walk out on my college graduation.” Rep. Cheryl, it was revealed in late September, was not allowed to attend her graduation at the U.S. Naval Academy. The circumstances of this decision are not publicly clear, although reports claim that Rep. Cheryl was involved in an alleged cheating scandal.
Rep. Sherrill responded to the attack by saying that after graduating, Ciattarelli “continued to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children.”
In addition to circumstances related to her college studies, Ciattarelli also attacked Rep. Cheryl because “she had to pay federal fines for violating the federal Stock Trading and Stock Reporting Act…trading defense industry stocks while serving on the House Armed Services Committee.”
Opinion polls ahead of New Jersey's November gubernatorial election show a tight race between the two candidates. Ciattarelli took on agitation in the most reliably Democratic parts of the state, including Hudson, Bergen and Essex counties, while Democrats nationally have sounded the alarm that Rep. Sherrill is a weak candidate.
“We're jumping into the race in New Jersey, even though many people think it's a blue state, and we may not have to act,” Janet Murguia, president of the left-leaning action fund UnidosUS, said CBS News on Wednesday. CBS noted that Sherrill's campaign “has been acknowledged by some Democrats to have struggled with her message, which often echoes the playbook former Vice President Kamala Harris used in her unsuccessful 2024 White House campaign.”
“Some Democrats told CBS News that Sherrill's campaign has yet to articulate a compelling economic message and has failed to focus on “kitchen” issues such as inflation and the cost of living,” the report noted.
This is Ciattarelli's second time running as the Republican candidate for governor of the state. He lost in 2021, but completed surprisingly well in a state that voted heavily for former President Biden, bringing the race to within four percentage points of victory.
The gubernatorial election will be held on November 4, but early voting is currently open.
