It’s probably worth pointing out the obvious, Save Jerseyans:
The Election 2025 gubernatorial contest might not even be competitive in New Jersey especially if a Republican wins the White House in 2024.
Historical realities aren’t preventing the current crop of combatants from taking shots at each other on social media heading into the Christmas holiday.
NJ 101.5 radio’s Bill Spadea ribbed ex-Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli for running for Garden State governor (non-stop) for nearly a decade; Ciattarelli poked back at Spadea of this own past electoral misadventures in Central Jersey. Meanwhile, state Senator Jon Bramnick went after Spadea with a January 6th-themed tirade.
“The radio announcer who mutes his opponents and lost every time he ran for office has been attacking me,” posted Bramnick. “His support for the Jan 6th riot and his denial of election results is not a winning plan. And a candidate who changed his opinion on these topics can’t win statewide.”
All three men have remained active and aggressive on the trail in the aftermath of Election 2023’s disastrous showing for the NJGOP. Democrats have, too, with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and ex-Senate President Steve Sweeney comprising the early list of possible Murphy successors. Republicans have only won a majority in a statewide gubernatorial election once in the past four decades: 2013, when Chris Christie rode Superstorm Sandy and deals cut with Democrat bosses to a landslide win over then-Senator Barbara Buono.
The radio announcer who mutes his opponents and lost every time he ran for office has been attacking me. His support for the Jan 6th riot and his denial of election results is not a winning plan. And a candidate who changed his opinion on these topics can’t win statewide.
— Jon Bramnick (@JonBramnick) December 13, 2023
Thanks @BillSpadea! I’m even old enough to remember you begging county committee members to be my running mate back in 2012. But all four counties & your hometown decided to go w/ someone who could actually win an election. Tough luck.
— Jack Ciattarelli (@Jack4NJ) December 13, 2023
