We may have seen Jack Ciattarelli transform into JD Vance in New Jersey.
The candidate for governor of New Jersey nominated by President Trump has previously referred to him as a “charlatan” and said he was “not fit” to hold the office of president. Since then, Ciattarelli’s right-wing detractors have relied on those remarks from 2015 to claim he isn’t fully on board with the MAGA movement.
On Monday, though, Trump put an end to the dispute by describing Ciattarelli as a “terrific America First Candidate” who “has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!)” after “getting to know and understand MAGA.” Also, Trump’s platform has been adopted by Ciattarelli, a former state legislator who is running for governor for the third time.
With Trump’s support among party loyalists and Ciattarelli’s close 2021 loss to Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, this could be enough to drive Ciattarelli to the party candidacy next month. If this happens, though, Ciattarelli will have a tough road ahead of him, similar to the one Vance has faced: winning over moderates and independents with his message of common sense conservatism while being true to Trump to the core.
Ciattarelli has already begun to plot that route, claiming that suburban growth, rising utility costs, and property taxes are his top priorities. These are the types of topics that have historically resonated with Republicans in the Garden State.
“From opposing offshore wind turbines to standing firm against New York Democrats’ congestion pricing plans, President Trump’s policies have been beneficial for the people of our state,” he stated. For the first time in decades, he won places like Passaic County, and two million New Jerseyans voted for him.
Ciattarelli claims he would run alongside the president in 2024, in contrast to his 2021 campaign, when the president lost New Jersey by a margin of fewer than six points. Plus, Republicans have made huge gains in voter registration and have a track record of electing Republican governors in the state, despite Democrats having almost 830,000 more registered voters overall.
Ciattarelli is attempting to pave the way for a new direction for the Republican Party in a blue-leaning state as he seeks to become the first Republican to hold the office of governor since Chris Christie in 2009.
It’s a common political development in Republican politics: people who were formerly against the president are now his staunchest supporters. Trump was formerly referred to as a “con artist” by Marco Rubio, who is now the secretary of state. In 2015, he was characterized by Sen. Lindsey Graham as a “race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot,” but now he is one of Trump’s most ardent supporters. A 2016 private comment by Vice President JD Vance compared Trump to Hitler.
Now Ciattarelli can be counted among those who have converted. In response to criticism of his change, he frequently draws parallels to Vance.
Both JD Vance and I made our opinions on Donald Trump known in 2016. On a December radio appearance, Ciattarelli announced that he was now the vice president of the US.
Similar to Ciattarelli, the Republican Party of New Jersey is quite generous.
“President Trump understands that people may change their ideals and several people in his Cabinet, possibly including the vice president, have had different opinions of him and different understandings of what the MAGA movement was,” said Kennith Gonzalez, executive director of the New Jersey Republican Party.
According to common belief, Democrats will seek to frame the November election as a vote on Trump’s popularity, while Republicans will focus only on long-standing complaints about the high cost of living in the state.
While Murphy’s government has aggressively opposed Trump administration initiatives, Ciattarelli has hinted that he will steer New Jersey in a more Trumpian direction.
He has made a commitment to refrain from suing Trump over “any of his executive orders”—a change from his previous stance, considering that New Jersey frequently challenges Trump administration policies in court, including attempts to limit birthright citizenship and federal budget cuts—a cause that Ciattarelli has publicly stated his support for. Separating children based on their biological sex, rather than their gender identification, would be an appropriate policy in some contexts, such as sports and sex education, and he has also committed to collaborating with the Trump administration to deport illegal immigrants.
In fact, Ciattarelli went so far as to mock Bruce Springsteen, the beloved son of New Jersey, for referring to the Trump administration as “treasonous” and for stating that he favored Frank Sinatra of Hoboken above the Boss.
It was claimed by some Ciattarelli backers that “he’s New Jersey” and not an emissary of the Obama administration.
“I believe he’s obviously a lot more moderate than JD Vance in a lot of areas,” said former GOP Gov. Donald DiFrancesco.
Even when compared to his gubernatorial candidacy in 2021, Ciattarelli’s support for Trump is striking. Ciattarelli, who was considered a long shot to unseat incumbent Murphy, had to walk a fine line between being too MAGA in a blue-leaning state and supporting Trump just enough to win over GOP base voters. As an example, he went to a “stop the steal” demonstration but later claimed ignorance about its motivation.
Independently, I go out and run for office. “I’ll win my own election,” Ciattarelli declared at a 2021 debate in response to a question about whether he would campaign with Trump.
His tone has changed much since then.
“This is not the deep-blue state that sometimes the national media says it is,” Ciattarelli stated during a radio interview that followed Trump’s support. “We can take advantage of this opportunity with the president’s support.”
Rather than a reversal, Republicans insist it’s an evolution. A well-known conservative blogger from the state, Matt Rooney, claimed that Ciattarelli had taken “one direction” about Trump.
“I believe there’s a distinction between people who repeatedly change their minds and those who truly experience someone over time and admit: ‘You know what, I was wrong and I like what I see.'” he stated. “I believe the vice president has already stated that.”
On Ciattarelli, Trump has changed for the better. Trump attacked Ciattarelli, though he did not mention him by name, on a radio show broadcast by Bill Spadea about one year ago. Spadea is Ciattarelli’s opponent in the gubernatorial race.
This man came to seek my assistance, but he never did, Trump warned. “And guess what? His MAGA supporters are unhappy about it and didn’t support him because of it.
But Ciattarelli arrived this time to solicit Trump’s endorsement. After a meeting in Atlantic City, Ciattarelli flew by helicopter to Trump’s Bedminster golf property in March to have a private conversation with the president. Ciattarelli shared the shot they captured online.
