Jack Ciattarelli and Bill Spadea’s rivalry dominates another GOP debate for N.J. governor

A bitter rivalry between two Republican candidates repeatedly interrupted another GOP debate for New Jersey governor Wednesday night.

The first debate in February set the stage for a nasty primary, and that has not changed — at least between former conservative radio host Bill Spadea and former Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli, who lost the Republican primary in 2017, then won the nomination in 2021 before losing the general election by about three percentage points to Gov. Phil Murphy.

Republicans are hopeful they have a shot at winning the election this year because of the relatively small margin in 2021 and because the state shifted rightward in the 2024 presidential election.

The debate included the three candidates who have raised the most cash: Ciattarelli, Spadea, and State Sen. Jon Bramnick.

Candidates Mario Kranjac and Justin Barbera will be on the primary ballot but did not receive enough campaign donations to qualify for the matching funds required to make it on the stage.

» READ MORE: The first N.J. Republican gubernatorial debate sets the stage for a nasty primary

Here are takeaways from Wednesday’s conversation, which was hosted by New Jersey Spotlight News, WNYC, and New Jersey PBS:

Some Republican Party observers were disappointed that Spadea and Ciattarelli’s rivalry dominated the February debate and interfered with some policy talk. That didn’t seem to change anything for the candidates, who continued the cross fire while sitting in a semicircle with moderators David Cruz of NJ PBS Chat Box and Michael Hill of WNYC Morning Edition.

They talked over each other. They called each other “insiders.” Cruz threatened to shut their microphones off less than 20 minutes into the one-hour discussion.

With just minutes left, Cruz said their arguing had “cost us all of our time” and shifted to a “lightning round.”

» READ MORE: Will Donald Trump endorse in the GOP primary for New Jersey governor? Kellyanne Conway thinks so.

One of those final questions was whether each candidate would support the winner of the primary for the general election. Ciattarelli and Bramnick committed to doing so, but Spadea did not answer the question, instead going on offense against Ciattarelli.

The two candidates’ bickering lasted until the very end of the debate.

Cruz asked Ciattarelli how his campaign is taking a different approach this year, since the candidate previously said he learned from his 2021 loss by realizing his campaign was “too white.”

Ciattarelli said he now has team members who have helped him reach communities he believes he did not connect with last time.

“This time around, we’ve already spent way more time in places where there are minority communities that we didn’t last time,” he said.

Spadea called that message racist.

“Guys, it‘s not about checking a box on skin color,” Spadea said. “Voters decide what the voters are going to decide.”

Bramnick said that the other two candidates should show more “warmth” instead of using “cold” and “calculated” sound bites.

“In the urban centers, let me tell you something, they can feel whether you’re empathetic, and right now, if the Republican Party doesn’t show empathy, we’re going to get beat,” Bramnick said.

A lawsuit is playing out in court in which a judge agreed that school segregation is an issue in New Jersey.

Spadea said he is the only candidate talking about a “civil rights crisis” because of low educational outcomes in Newark and other cities, and argued that school vouchers and charter schools would resolve that issue.

When questioned whether the focus on school choice, which typically results in diverting money from public schools, would exacerbate school segregation, Spadea said “segregation is not the issue.”

“You can’t just check a box and all of a sudden say we’re going to base our decisions on some kid’s skin color,” Spadea said. “We need to fix our cities. The Black and brown kids, for the most part, are living in these cities.”

Bramnick said he would not require families to bus their children out of the area they live in to attend a different school.

“Maybe you can set up magnet schools,” he said. “Clearly, charter schools are terrific, but moving kids from their house that they decided to live one block from the school, that‘s not happening.”

The three candidates offered different opinions on whether Planned Parenthood should receive state funding.

Bramnick said he supports continuing funding for women’s health services provided by the organization but not for abortion services.

Ciattarelli also said he specifically does not want money going toward abortion services but did not elaborate on whether or not he would fund the organization otherwise. Instead, he wants the state to provide funding to pregnancy resource centers, which are meant to persuade people not to have an abortion. Republicans in the state legislature have accused Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, of going after these centers.

Spadea said he would veto any funding to Planned Parenthood.

All three candidates said they are against the state’s affordable housing policy, which mandates each municipality to contribute its “fair share” of affordable units.

“We’re gonna take those units out of the suburbs and shove them into the cities,” Spadea said.

“Aren’t the cities already overcrowded?” Hill, one of the moderators, asked.

“Well, they need more housing,” Spadea responded. “Many of our city mayors want the affordable housing in their communities. The suburbs don’t want them. We should not be building one piece of affordable housing where we don’t have the energy, the transportation, or the job infrastructure.”

Ciattarelli argued that the state’s affordable housing policy, which stems from a 1975 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling, is not consistent with the state’s flood-mitigation requirements. He said he wants to take that position to court. He also said he would appoint two conservative Supreme Court justices to bolster his case. The appointments would reverse a tradition of partisan Supreme Court balance in the state, which Bramnick opposes because he argues Democrats would do the same when given the opportunity. Democrats in the race also differ on whether to maintain partisan balance in the high court.

Republican Justice Anne Patterson is set to retire in 2029, which would be the last year of the next governor’s term, and Chief Justice Stuart Rabner would retire the following year, meaning Ciattarelli is banking on a second term unless a justice steps down or dies.

The candidates offered various other ideas on how to make the state more affordable.

Spadea argued that ending New Jersey’s sanctuary state status would save money and said he would renegotiate pension plans, particularly for new hires coming into the Communications Workers of America and New Jersey Education Association unions.

» READ MORE: Bill Spadea, candidate for N.J. governor, suggested a Jersey DOGE. The state’s business community booed.

Ciattarelli said he wants to consolidate the state’s government watchdog agencies and lower utility rates.

Bramnick said he would stop Democrats from allocating money to districts they favor for “Christmas tree items” and entities like museums.