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Philadelphia Inquirer: NJ GOP Primary “Could Be Mistaken for a Competition Over Who is More Loyal to President Donald Trump”

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Philadelphia Inquirer: NJ GOP Primary “Could Be Mistaken for a Competition Over Who is More Loyal to President Donald Trump” 

A new report from the Philadelphia Inquirer is the latest to highlight how the nastiness of New Jersey’s Republican primary has reached “new heights,” as two-time failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli and former talk radio host Bill Spadea battle for President Trump’s endorsement.

As the Inquirer points out, “their campaigns at times could be mistaken for a competition over who is more loyal to President Donald Trump,” and the nasty and divisive MAGA loyalty test is the “very reason so many Republicans decline to take a side when asked about the primary in fear of dipping their toes into the inner-party turmoil.”

The Inquirer isn’t the only news outlet picking up on the increasingly ugly Republican primary: 

  • New Jersey Monitor: In GOP primary for governor, fight escalates over winning support of Trump voters.
  • NJ.com: “The bitter — no, make that nasty — Republican primary for New Jersey governor is much more than a battle over which candidate is most aligned with President Donald Trump.”
  • Politico: “New Jersey’s Republican primary for governor is heated, nasty, and dripping with contempt.”
  • Politico: The New Jersey GOP debate could have used a steel cage

Read more from the Inquirer on how this messy Republican primary has reached “new heights” below: 

  • Jack Ciattarelli and Bill Spadea are top competitors for the New Jersey gubernatorial Republican primary, but their campaigns at times could be mistaken for a competition over who is more loyal to President Donald Trump.
  • Spadea and Ciattarelli’s rivalry over who is more aligned with Trump is the very reason so many Republicans decline to take a side when asked about the primary in fear of dipping their toes into the inner-party turmoil.
  • The two men were more focused on criticizing each other’s records on Trump than answering moderators’ questions at the first debate of the race in early February, which also featured former State Sen. Ed Durr, who dropped out of the race Monday, and State Sen. Jon Bramnick, who has been openly critical of Trump.
  • Spadea, a former conservative radio host, has presented himself as an antiestablishment politician who isn’t beholden to the machine while trying to frame Ciattarelli, a former Assembly member who has already run for governor twice, as too much of a politician.
  • Ciattarelli, on the other hand, has tried to frame Spadea as a liar. Both men have made negative comments about Trump over the years before they made his support a main tenant of this race.
  • Trump said on Spadea’s show in May 2024, seemingly referring to Ciattarelli, that “he made some very big mistakes” in the 2021 gubernatorial race and suggested he could have won if he was more allied with Trump.

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