Jack Ciattarelli is fairly active on Twitter/X, Save Jerseyans, and Bill Spadea has never been one to hesitate to throw a punch. But neither 2025 GOP candidate had anything to say this weekend as state Senator Jon Bramnick (R-21) entered the race for the still distant Republican nomination.
Spadea hadn’t posted since Friday. Ciattarelli was opining on the massive NJ Transit fare hike.
The only 2025 candidate to comment sits on the other side of the aisle – Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City – who snarkily noted the lack of base enthusiasm for Bramnick.
“Reading the comments on this thread for @JonBramnick2025….. seems like his campaign is off to a very compelling start with the Republican base/primary voter,” wrote Fulop.
https://twitter.com/StevenFulop/status/1751314283361693780
Why the conspicuous silence?
There’s something to be said for the fact that few consider Bramnick a likely threat for the actual nomination. He’s an unapologetic liberal Republican who constantly dumps on Trump while frequently providing cover for Phil Murphy and his party. So maybe they don’t think it’s worth swatting at a long-shot opponent on a rainy weekend in January over one year removed from the first county conventions?
Still, Bramnick can raise money, and his likely inability to connect with the voters he needs to win a nomination doesn’t mean he can’t impact the race. As a spoiler? Perhaps. Some Ciattarelli supporters tell Save Jersey that they’re concerned about Bramnick’s potential ability to eat into voters and institutional support who might otherwise stick with Ciattarelli over Spadea. Bramnick may also compete for a handful of lines – notably Union County and Morris County – to the detriment of the 2021 nominee. Union is Bramnick’s home turf; Morris GOP Chairwoman Laura Ali is a close Bramnick ally, though historically fractious Morris is often hard to handicap.
So assuming the “Jon hurts Jack more than Bill” logic follows (and nothing is for certain this far out), then Team Spadea would have every incentive at this early stage of the game to let Bramnick 2025 get off of the ground and see whether he can indeed siphon support from his prime adversary, Ciattarelli.
Or is something else altogether afoot?
Jack Ciattarelli, in turn, is a notoriously cautious guy whose team may be advising against throwing bombs at this point in the race. Or they might be debating which bombs to throw and how.
Whatever the reason for the lack of fireworks this weekend, 2025 is still on track to be one of the weirdest NJGOP primaries in recent memory. That’s about all I’m willing to predict!
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Reader’s Note: Ciattarelli announced his 2025 candidacy at the same press conference where he conceded the 2021 gubernatorial race. Spadea is universally expected to announce and is acting like a candidate in every way, but he’s likely waiting for as long as possible in order to avoid the necessity of surrendering his politically valuable NJ 101.5 morning host position.
