Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli joins to discuss the race for New Jersey governor, which is in a dead heat.

The New Jersey governor's race is highly competitive, with Republican candidate Jack Cittarelli challenging Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill. Cittarelli, a former assemblyman, has emphasized his campaign's momentum, citing support from independents, moderate Democrats, and endorsements from Democratic mayors. He has criticized Sherrill for her record in Congress and alleged ethical issues, while also focusing on issues such as taxes, housing, public safety, and education.

Recent polling, including an Emerson College survey, shows the race in a dead heat. Cittarelli has outlined specific policy proposals, including reducing government size, cutting taxes, and lowering electric bills by withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. He contrasts his approach with Sherrill's, claiming she lacks substantive plans for New Jersey and instead focuses on national political rhetoric.

New Jersey governor race neck and neck

And the other one joins us now. Jack Cittarelli is running on a Republican ticket looking to replace Phil Murphy this November. Welcome, great to have you. Good morning, guys. Thanks for having me. You bet. You got it. So you're a former assemblyman facing Democratic Congresswoman. You know, the thing is, I think her name is Mickey Sherrill. You know what? I really don't know her. And hopefully voters don't know much about her and New Jersey. So the thing is, you know, it's a hotly contested race. The two of you facing off last week. You've been in this place before running for governor. You came very close. And I believe that you have not only the same support you had last time, but you're picking up a lot of steam with independents and Democrats. What say you? We want people to know who Mikey Sherrill is because she's not from New Jersey. And as the clip showed, she's tripled her net worth since she got to Congress. She had broke federal law, had to pay federal fines for breaking federal law and stock trades and stock reporting. The New York Times reports was trading defense stocks while sitting on the House Armed Services Committee. And of course, there's the revelation of the last two weeks that she was punished while at the Naval Academy. She wasn't allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. Wow. And her word salad with respect to trading stocks is pretty egregious. But a recent Emerson College poll shows the race in a dead heat. So what are your main campaign points and how does that make you different from Sherrill's approach? The Emerson poll only confirms what we're feeling every day across the state on the campaign trail. In fact, in the last eight weeks, three different Democratic mayors have endorsed me. And when Democratic mayors start endorsing the Republican nominee, it says a whole lot. People have had it across the board, not just Republicans, unaffiliated, independent voters, moderate Democrats, because Phil Murphy's policies have failed us over the last eight years. Taxes, spending, the shortage of housing, but the overdevelopment of our suburban communities, putting handcuffs on our local police, which is why nonviolent crime has spiked, the failure of our public school system. We've recently slipped from two to 12 on national report card. These are the things that people are all upset about, including the spike in their monthly electric bills. And my opponent has endorsed every one of the failed policies of the current administration. She would just be a continuation of Phil Murphy's failed policies. We call her Murphy 2.0. People have had it. That's not the direction they want to go. That's true, and she's resulting into lying about your tax policy at a time when New Jersey residents are looking for lower property taxes and affordable housing prices. So what else is on their wish list, and how do you propose to combat that with your own policies? First of all, I'll reduce the size and cost of our state government very responsibly to afford a tax cut for our businesses and our individuals who pay the highest tax rates in the country. Second of all, I can get down the monthly electric bill on day one by pulling out a RGGI. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a carbon tax policy that costs New Jersey ratepayers a half a billion dollars a year. I can do that on day one by executive order. We need to stop sending ratepayer dollars to other states. Let's keep it right here in New Jersey by reducing the monthly electric bills. My opponent has put forth a laughable, illegitimate, and illegal plan to freeze electric rates at their current highest rates ever. Why would you freeze rates at the highest levels ever? We wanna get them back to where they were. And you got 77 incumbent Democratic legislators, not one has endorsed her plan, and even the governor, a member of her own party, has slapped it down by saying, I don't think you can do that. Yeah, and talking about her policies in general, I've been watching and following your race. I mean, basically all she promotes is anti-Donald Trump rhetoric. She has no substantial plan for New Jersey residents going forward, as well as the radical initiatives she wants to promote. Can you just talk more about those? Well, to your point, Krista, there isn't anything she won't blame on the president. As I say, as I go around the state, if you get a flat tire today, she's gonna blame it on the president. But as I rhetorically ask people every day, what does the president have to do with our highest in the nation property taxes? What does the president have to do with our highest in the nation electric bills? What does the president have to do with handcuffing our police, the failure of our public schools, overdevelopment in our suburbs? He doesn't have anything to do with those. It's the party that's controlled Trenton for 25 years and the executive branch for the last eight years. That's her party. And she hasn't given us a single policy proposal that changes the way things are. And that's why we're gonna win this race. You know, as you stated, you're picking up Democrat endorsements, which is major, right? Building on what you were able to do in your last election. How do you walk that fine line between letting voters know who your opponent is and actually letting them know what you want to do when you are elected governor? By doing what we did in the debate last week, and anybody who watched it has seen now that she's not qualified for position. She didn't answer a single question. It's generalities, it's platitudes, it's tiptoeing around. I answer the questions very respectfully, very directly with a specific solution on how to solve the problem. Whether it's property taxes, whether it's our monthly electric bills, which have skyrocketed, whether it's taking the handcuffs off our local police to keep our community safe, how to improve our public schools, how to stop the overdevelopment in our suburban communities. I'm very specific with my proposals, and that's what gets people excited, new ideas. Yeah, and concrete proposals is exactly what you promoted. Jack Cittarelli, we hope that some of your winning spirit and your vibes rubs off on us here in New York. We could use it, that's for sure. But sending you the best of luck. Thank you so much for joining us. Guys, thanks for the time. You got it.

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