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NBC: “Allegiance to Trump Has Become a Top Issue” in Nasty NJ GOP Primary

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NBC: “Allegiance to Trump Has Become a Top Issue” in Nasty NJ GOP Primary

Recent reporting from NBC News details how “allegiance to Trump has become a top issue” in New Jersey’s chaotic and messy Republican primary, as Jack Ciattarelli and Bill Spadea take to the airwaves with nasty, personal attack ads casting doubt on one another’s MAGA bonafides.

As NBC reports, Trump’s long shadow over the primary has dominated the race since day one. Ciattarelli and Spadea’s visits with Trump at his golf course in Bedminster were followed by a fresh round of ads, yet again touting their loyalty to Trump, rather than on the biggest issues facing the Garden State. Their messy infighting isn’t going unnoticed, with one Republican insider agreeing that “‘the issue in the primary is who’s the most Trump-loyal candidate in the race.’”

Ciattarelli’s all-out effort to court Trump, including refusing to name a single issue where he and the president disagree, comes after he declined to seek Trump’s endorsement in his two previous failed gubernatorial bids — the clearest sign yet that the race for the GOP nomination for governor in New Jersey is all about Donald Trump, and not about looking out for Garden State families.

Read more from NBC News about how the New Jersey GOP primary has become a MAGA loyalty test:

  • The New Jersey governor’s race could be President Donald Trump’s first chance, since returning to the White House, to sway a major GOP primary — and allegiance to Trump has become a top issue in the race.

  • The top two contenders, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and radio host Bill Spadea, met with Trump at the president’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in late March, and both want his endorsement. But it’s not clear if Trump will pick a favorite before the June 10 primary.

  • “By and large, the issue in the primary is who’s the most Trump-loyal candidate in the race,” [New Jersey GOP strategist Jeanette] Hoffman added.

  • Spadea launched his first TV ad this week, playing audio of Trump’s appearance on his radio show from last May, when Trump told Spadea, “You’ve had my back from the beginning” and criticized Ciattarelli for not asking Trump to campaign with him during his unsuccessful run for governor in 2021.

  • The ad also uses artificial intelligence to portray Ciattarelli’s voice reciting his 2015 criticisms that Trump was a “charlatan” and unfit to be president.

  • Ciattarelli’s campaign launched its own attack ad in March featuring footage of Spadea saying on his radio show in 2021 that Trump “failed” and that he did not want Trump to run again.

  • Ciattarelli also declined to say whether he disagreed with any of Trump’s actions in his second term.

  • Ciattarelli did not campaign with Trump [in 2021]. But this year, during a February debate, Ciattarelli joined the other candidates in saying they would welcome Trump to campaign the Garden State.

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