I’m really worried for New Jersey’s gubernatorial election this year… I’ve been stating my support for Ras Baraka, especially after the ICE incident that happened a few weeks ago, but now I’m considering voting for Mikie Sherrill again, mainly because she seems to have the best chance against Jack Ciattarelli, the front-runner on the republican side.
Jack Ciattarelli almost beat Governor Phil Murphy back in 2021 (Murphy is term-limited so he can’t run anymore). Ciattarelli is basically the MAGA candidate and is endorsed by Drumpf. His front-runner status is also higher than Mikie Sherrill’s, meaning republican NJ voters are more united in choosing him as their leader, 44% among reps vs. Sherrill’s 28% among dems. I’m not liking those numbers…
Baraka seems to represent my political sentiments the most out of all the dem candidates (I’m also impressed with Steve Fulop), but at the same time, Ciattarrelli seems to have a decent chance of winning in the general election and I want a candidate who has the best chance of making sure he doesn’t win so I’m very conflicted. I want someone progressive but I also have to face the fact that right now most NJ dems are more centrist rather than leftist and the state shifted a little bit purple in the 2024 election.
Would backing a progressive left candidate end up backfiring against a pro-MAGA candidate? If I were to choose to vote for a progressive left candidate, what would be the best way to determine which of those two have a higher chance of victory against Ciattarelli?
I’m not from, have never been to, and am not familiar with NJ state politics. That being said, I think your summation likely applies to most of the purple places in the US. How will that play out in NJ this year, and in the nation as a whole in 2026 and 2028? I don’t know, but we do live in interesting time, so the result is bound to be interesting no matter which way it goes.
I agree with this. I’ve heard she tends to be hard to pin down on some issues, but I imagine she’ll cruise to victory. I’m voting for her in the primary tomorrow.
Do you mean Baraka is the most likely to lose against Ciattarelli?
That’s my primary concern, to have a governor who won’t go along with Trump’s abuses.
I’m throwing my vote to Sherrill, she’s my representative, I like her well enough, and expect that she will work hard for the people of NJ.
When it comes down to the general election, though, I’d vote anyone, even Sean Spiller, over Ciattarelli, and Spiller was my Mayor for a while, so I really don’t like him.
I have some big long standing issues with the entire Baraka family that are too personal to reveal here. I would probably find myself not voting if he is the candidate. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue though. He’s not going to win the primary.
Jack is an interesting case. I firmly believe he is only a Trumper out of self interest. Unfortunately the reality is you can’t win a primary without bending the knee. Behind closed doors I’m sure it’s a different story. His only real competition is the populist radio host Spadea who’s main selling point is he loves Trump more. Bramnick is the only anti-Trump Republican and he has no shot. I’m currently registered Republican for primary purposes and that’s who I’ll vote for tomorrow. (New Jersey is a closed primary. You need to be registered one way or the other.)
Unless something really bad happens I don’t see a Republican winning. Sherrill is a pretty strong candidate. Harris and Andy Kim won solidly statewide. Trumpers are very vocal but they are still in the minority. This election will play out as Murphy vs Trump. Sherrill is coming from Congress so she can distance herself from unpopular Murphy policies. Citarelli has to own the Trump endorsement.
Actually in NJ it is pretty simple to go online and do what’s needed to be independent, though you have to do it after every primary. I finally stopped a few years ago and accept the fact I’m effectively a Democrat.
Weird for someone that was a young Republican that campaigned for Reagan’s reelection and was a hawk.
No such thing as independent in NJ anymore. It’s been “unaffiliated” for a while now. There is no advantage to being unaffiliated. Switching back and forth is possible but rarely useful. We haven’t had a presidential primary that meant anything in my lifetime. Where I live the incumbents are firmly entrenched at the local level.
My local township committee members tend to be pretty up-for-grabs for either party, so I guess I could go unaffiliated, and then choose a direction on primary day. But, I won’t.
We will know in 7 hours. It seems like Citarelli is a lock on the Republican side. Sherrill is the front runner but probably not far enough ahead to say she’s a sure thing.
Not really. All incumbents with no opposition. Nothing above county level.
As expected it will be Mikie vs Jack. Since there are few big races happening in the country I expect to feel like an Ohio voter during a presidential election. A ton of money will be pouring in. Broadcast tv will be unwatchable
I’m sure there will be a head to head poll soon, for what it’s worth.
I do have a few concerns. Murphy wasn’t very popular. Dissatisfaction with the previous Democrat has led to Whitman and Christie wins. It being a very off year means getting out the vote could be tough. Trump was much closer to Harris than he should have been in the state. Ciattarelli has more name recognition due to previous campaigns. Sherrill doesn’t have statewide recognition until her current campaign.