Posted on 10/11/2025 12:27:21 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Republican Jack Ciattarelli is closing the gap with Rep. Mikie Sherill by arguing that high taxes and foolish energy policies are ruining the Garden State.
No one beats up on New Jersey like its own beleaguered residents, who arguably get less for their money than anyone else in the country. A family in a $600,000 house might pay $12,000 a year in property tax. A decade ago they could boast that this paid for some of the best schools in the country, but New Jersey has slid from second to 12th place in math and reading scores. And don’t even start on the energy bills.
Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for governor, thinks state lawmakers should focus more on solving these problems and less on blaming Donald Trump. “The president has nothing to do with our property taxes, nothing to do with our energy prices,” he tells a crowd in Camden—one of America’s poorest cities, where 82% of voters preferred Kamala Harris in last year’s election. Mr. Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman, bets that some of them are ready to give up on Democrats in Trenton.
New Jersey sometimes elects Republican governors, but it’s nearly always when a Democrat holds the White House, as if voters are venting their disappointment with progressive governance in Washington. The last Republican to win under a GOP president was Thomas Kean in 1985.
But a different trend augurs well for Mr. Ciattarelli. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is finishing his second term, and the state rarely grants either party the governorship three times in a row. The last to pull it off was Democrat Richard Hughes, in 1965.
Mr. Ciattarelli trails his Democratic opponent, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, by 3.3 points in the Real Clear Politics polling average, and he appears to be closing fast. In late...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
The most recent poll (Rassmussen; published yesterday) has Jack down by 6 points, so he better start closing a lot faster. Granted, even being within 6 is one of the best results we’ve seen here.
https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/governor/general/2025/new-jersey/sherrill-vs-ciattarelli
I'm not confident we'll see one in Virginia or see Proposition 50 defeated in California. Maybe NJ will pull thought.
Meaningless. They’re all in blue states.
NJ is purpleing.
775 FReepers in NJ (Half as many as VA). How many FReepers have not yet voted? How many FReepers...and those in Truth Social and those following MAGA voiceA and MAGA voice B are working the ground game...getting out their friends and neighbors to vote?
Historically, Rasmussen can’t poll state races very well. Mark Mitchell, from Rasmussen, has had a bug up with a$$ since Trump bombed Iran and has been overly negative towards Republicans on every race of late. Also, Mitchell is a Naval Academy grad, like Sherrill, and has consistently downplayed her honor scandal. One wonders just how objective his poll may be.
too bad nj will not have a real Governor no matter who wins.
My aunt & uncle in New Jersey bought a single story rambler type home in Mountain Lakes for about $42,000 in 1959 and my uncle told me they were paying $9,000 in property taxes in 2003!
My Communist uncle told me five or six years ago they were paying $25,000 a year in property taxes in North Jersey.
That’s five times what I pay in PA. I have no sympathy for him. None.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.