Ed Durr’s Closing Message: “Jack Ciattarelli Has Always Been a Never-Trumper”
Ed Durr’s Closing Message: “Jack Ciattarelli Has Always Been a Never-Trumper”
New Jersey’s GOP gubernatorial primary field may be narrowing, but it’s as nasty as ever.
The New Jersey Globe reports that as former state senator Ed Durr withdrew from the race to endorse former talk radio host Bill Spadea, he couldn’t resist a final shot at two-time failed gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, saying Ciattarelli “has always been a never-Trumper.”
The comments come after more than a year of “steel cage”-style brawling between Ciattarelli and Spadea that has included attack ads and dedicated websites questioning one another’s loyalty to Trump, pilgrimages to Trump’s golf course at Bedminster, and interventions by some of the biggest names in MAGA world, like Kellyanne Conway.
Facing pressure to prove his MAGA bona fides in recent months, Ciattarelli has even walked back his opposition to pardoning January 6th insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol and attacked law enforcement officers, and endorsed threats to benefits like Social Security and Medicare as a “grand experiment.”
Despite this, Spadea continues to gain ground with grassroots conservatives, clinching the endorsement of the Ocean County Republican Party and the Mercer County Republican Party, the latter of which he didn’t even compete for.
“No matter which of these candidates makes it out of this messy primary, their loyalty will lay with Donald Trump, not New Jerseyans,” said DGA Campaign Communications Advisor Emma O’Brien. “Between the sniping, ring-kissing, and flip-flopping, it’s clear neither Jack Ciattarelli nor Bill Spadea can be trusted to put New Jersey first or fight for New Jersey families in the governor’s office.”
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