When Donald J. Trump was in the thick of his first campaign for the White House, Jack Ciattarelli, then a Republican state assemblyman mulling a run for governor of New Jersey, called the soon-to-be commander in chief a “charlatan” who was “out of step with American values.”
“Sitting silently and allowing him to embarrass our country is unacceptable,” Mr. Ciattarelli said in a 2015 statement. “He is not fit to be president of the United States.”
Ten years later, Mr. Ciattarelli, the front-runner in the June 10 Republican primary for governor, has pivoted. He has praised Mr. Trump during the campaign and last month earned the president’s coveted endorsement.
Like many other Republican politicians across the country, including the vice president, JD Vance, Mr. Ciattarelli has worked to paper over his past criticism of the president as Mr. Trump has grown in popularity.
That effort to appeal to the G.O.P.’s conservative base is seen more as a reflection of the realities of party primaries at a polarized moment in history than as a fundamental realignment of the Republican Party in New Jersey, a left-leaning state with a high percentage of affluent suburban voters.
“It’s indicative of where Republicans are, but it’s also indicative of where a lot of voters are,” said Peter J. McDonough Jr., a retired political strategist and former aide to Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who was governor of New Jersey in the 1990s. “People are mad. People are dissatisfied — whether they’re Bernie Sanders or Trump voters.”
Only New Jersey and Virginia hold races for governor the year after a presidential contest. In New Jersey, this stems from a decision made by framers of the 1947 State Constitution, who changed the length of a governor’s term to four years, from three, starting with the election in 1949 — an odd-numbered year without any federal races. One of the stated goals was to force candidates to remain focused on state-specific issues.
In 2021, however, outrage over national issues like pandemic-related mandates, book banning and sex education in schools overshadowed local concerns, and Mr. Ciattarelli came within three points of unseating New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Philip D. Murphy.
“It showed that New Jersey was no longer immune from the national forces,” said Patrick Murray, a pollster and chief executive of StimSight Research.
Now running for the third time, Mr. Ciattarelli openly vied for the president’s endorsement, as did a rival farther to his right, Bill Spadea, a longtime conservative radio host. A third prominent candidate, State Senator Jon Bramnick, a moderate who in the past has been an outspoken critic of the president, now stresses his willingness to work with Mr. Trump if elected.
In announcing that he was endorsing Mr. Ciattarelli, Mr. Trump alluded to his hope of flipping New Jersey red, arguing on social media that the former assemblyman would “ensure a Big Victory in this Very Important Gubernatorial Election, an Election that is being closely watched by the entire World.”
“After getting to know and understand MAGA,” Mr. Trump wrote about Mr. Ciattarelli, he “has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!).”
A densely populated state filled with well-educated voters, New Jersey has seesawed between Democratic and Republican governors. Its last two elected Republican governors, Ms. Whitman and Chris Christie, were centrists who have both opposed Mr. Trump. Neither agreed to be interviewed for this article.
Last November, Mr. Trump performed far better in New Jersey than he did in the 2020 election, losing the state by just six points, down from 16 points against former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. In more than half of the state’s counties, he won more votes than the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, as turnout lagged on the left.
But fealty to Mr. Trump is not without risk in November’s general election. Democrats control New Jersey’s State House and Democratic voters still vastly outnumber Republicans, despite the G.O.P.’s recent success in narrowing the gap to about 800,000 voters.
Voters who are not registered with either major political party are New Jersey’s second largest voting bloc. And a public opinion poll taken last month showed that 47 percent of residents supported Mr. Trump — the same percentage as those who oppose him.
Whoever wins the Republican nomination will face off against the winner of a Democratic primary that remains hard-fought, as six prominent candidates compete for an edge in a race that is likely to be won by a small margin and be heavily dependent on voter turnout.
There is no doubt the president’s stronger-than-expected showing in New Jersey has influenced each party’s primary.
Democrats have focused on pocketbook issues and how they might take on Mr. Trump from the State House. Republicans have stressed ways they align with Mr. Trump on issues ranging from abortion to immigration.
Pressed on how he might govern differently than Mr. Trump, Mr. Ciattarelli, 63, maintained that he was “in sync with what the president is trying to do.”
“Everybody has their own leadership style,” he said. “The challenges that I face in New Jersey are not necessarily challenges that he faces across the country or across the world.”
Mr. Spadea, 56, has said that he was disappointed not to win the endorsement of Mr. Trump, who has been a guest on his radio show and with whom he shares policy positions.
But he said he believed he would still be the choice of the president’s most ardent supporters. He received more offers of volunteer labor and small-dollar donations in the days after the president endorsed his primary opponent than at any other point in the race, he said.
“Voters win elections, not endorsements,” Mr. Spadea said.
“Look at the chatter online,” he added. “Most — I’m talking 99 to 1 — are upset that the president made the wrong choice.”
Even before Mr. Trump’s endorsement, Mr. Ciattarelli had raised about twice as much money as Mr. Spadea and Mr. Bramnick had each taken in, enabling him to dominate television and streaming advertising, according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. Polls have shown him with a commanding lead for months.
Mr. Bramnick, 72, has argued in debates that his ability to appeal to the state’s fiscally conservative but socially moderate core makes him the best choice to take on the Democratic nominee.
“I would say that there are many traditional Republicans, historically traditional, who still believe in the basic concepts of the Republican Party: smaller government, lower taxes, law and order,” said Mr. Bramnick, who has trailed in most polls. “I still believe that’s the majority of the Republican Party.”
Curtis Bashaw, a Republican hotel developer, ran for U.S. Senate last year. He lost to Andy Kim, a Democrat, by more than nine points.
Mr. Bashaw, who ran as a social moderate, said a common thread among voters he met while campaigning was dissatisfaction with the status quo — regardless of their feelings about the president.
“A moderate Republican who maybe does not like the tone or severity of what’s being said or done in Washington still wants a change in New Jersey,” he said.
Tracey Tully is a reporter for The Times who covers New Jersey, where she has lived for more than 20 years.
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