In NJ governor's race, Democrat beats GOP rival whose aide spurned ‘money from Jews’

Mikie Sherrill bests Trump-backed Jack Ciattarelli, who said aide had been misunderstood and cast himself as Israel supporter, enjoyed support of New Jersey Orthodox Jewish leaders

JTA — Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor, prevailed Tuesday in a hotly contested race that trained its focus on Jews and antisemitism in the homestretch.

Sherrill took 57 percent of the vote over GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli with more than 63% of the total vote reporting at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, just as Zohran Mamdani won his race for New York City mayor across the Hudson.

Two weeks before the election, an aide to Ciattarelli told a crowd at a campaign event that his candidate wouldn’t be “taking money from Jews.” Ciattarelli then took the stage and praised his aide — a Muslim outreach director — without addressing the comment, sparking blowback from some Jewish leaders and his Democratic challenger. Later, Ciattarelli said his aide’s remarks had been misconstrued and cast himself as a strong supporter of Israel.

“He was talking about the grief he gets from some BECAUSE of my unwavering support for the Jewish community and Israel and his own efforts to build bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim communities,” Ciattarelli later wrote on the social network X, defending his aide’s comments.

The incident didn’t stop The Vaad, a New Jersey coalition of Orthodox leaders, from endorsing Ciattarelli. It also didn’t stop US President Donald Trump, in the race’s final days, from urging the state’s large Orthodox Jewish population to vote for Ciattarelli. In a message on Truth Social, his social media network, Trump implored the heavily Haredi Orthodox suburb of Lakewood — where he enjoyed near-unanimous support last year — to vote Republican again.

“Jack needs every single vote in the community, including all the Yeshiva students who turned out to vote for me last year,” the president wrote. In the same message, Trump said Ciattarelli would “cut your taxes and tremendously reduce your out of control and ridiculous Energy costs.”

A Hebrew-language sign supporting Jack Ciattarelli, the GOP candidate for New Jersey governor, in Teaneck, New Jersey, November 4, 2025. (70 Faces Media via JTA)

There were signs of broader Ciattarelli support across other heavily Jewish regions of New Jersey, including Hebrew-inflected lawn signs in Teaneck and elsewhere, though ultimately he was projected to finish with a smaller share of the vote than in his previous run for governor in 2021. This was the candidate’s third run for governor on the GOP ticket.