Somerset County Republicans may get a 2025 gubernatorial primary preview on September 17th when 2021 nominee Jack Ciattarelli and NJ 101.5 morning host Bill Spadea headline a fundraiser in Skillman, New Jersey for the county party, Save Jerseyans.
Tickets range from $75 for general admission to $1,500 for a gold sponsorship.
Republicans are angling to retake a foothold in county government in Somerset this year. The party lost its grip upon the rapidly changing and affluent Central Jersey outpost during the Trump years.
Ciattarelli formerly represented the county as a freeholder and, later, as an assemblyman from LD-16. He over-performed in South Jersey and at the Jersey Shore on Election Day 2021 but he underperformed in the Morris/Somerset/Burlington corridor resulting in a low single-digit loss to Phil Murphy. He broke precedent by announcing a 2025 campaign immediately upon conceding the 2021 race.
Somerset is also inside of NJ 101.5’s core listening area; Spadea spent most of the 2021 cycle criticizing Ciattarelli and his messaging which left some committee GOP members less than happy with the drive-time personality who, not coincidentally, is presently barnstorming the state at the head of his political action organization.
All of this adds up to Somerset serving as a potentially interesting 2025 battleground for the Republican nomination.
