For the second time, Jack Ciattarelli has earned the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, defeating former talk show host Bill Spadea.
The Associated Press called the race at 8:17 p.m, with Ciatarelli capturing 67.5% of the vote with 17% of votes counted.
The former assemblyman was able to stave off Spadea, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, construction business owner Justin Barbera and state Sen. John Bramnick. Bramnick was the only candidate to not embrace President Donald Trump and his policies.
Former state Sen. Ed Durr dropped out of the race last March and supported Spadea.
Track New Jersey’s 2025 primary election results as they come in.
Ciattarelli nearly ended Gov. Phil Murphy’s re-election hopes as the GOP nominee in 2021. Murphy, however, squeaked through by 3%, becoming the first Democrat in more than four decades to win a second term.
Ciattarelli’s key campaign issues include capping property taxes to a percentage of an assessed home value, enacting term limits for state legislators and mandating all state employees return to an in-person five-day work week.
He wants to repeal the state’s Immigrant Trust Directive and has pledged to create a New Jersey version of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, also referred to as DOGE.