Donald Trump endorses Jack Ciattarelli for New Jersey governor

President Donald Trump endorsed Jack Ciattarelli for governor Monday evening in a highly anticipated move in the New Jersey gubernatorial race.

“Jack Ciattarelli is a terrific America First Candidate running to be the next Governor of a State that I love, NEW JERSEY!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Ciattarelli, 63, found out about the prized endorsement when Trump called him just moments before sharing his decision online, according to his campaign.

The president‘s endorsement is viewed by Republican politicos in the state as highly valuable for the June 10 GOP primary, in which Ciattarelli will face four competitors. The question as to who Trump would endorse, or whether he would endorse anyone at all, has been looming for months.

Ciattarelli, a former member of the N.J. General Assembly, unsuccessfully ran in the 2017 Republican gubernatorial primary before winning the GOP nomination in 2021 and coming within roughly three points of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in the general election. With Murphy term-limited, Republicans see an opportunity to flip the state’s executive office red this year in part because the state shifted more conservative in the 2024 presidential election.

Ciattarelli and former radio host Bill Spadea, rivals in this year‘s Republican primary, have been arguing for months over who is more loyal to Trump, dominating the two primary debates with their attacks. Both men have sought out his endorsement and have criticized Trump in the past.

Ciattarelli and and Spadea will also face state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Trump critic, and two lesser-known candidates Justin Barbera, a contractor, and Mario Kranjac, the former mayor of Englewood Cliffs. Ciattarelli has led in polling in the race.

Ciattarelli said in a statement Monday that he was “truly humbled and honored” to receive Trump’s “very strong endorsement.”

“It‘s time to unite our party, win big in November, and make New Jersey affordable and safe again,” Ciattarelli said. “When I’m Governor, we will.”

Spadea said in a statement that his “resolve to fight for the people of New Jersey has never been greater” and cited Trump-endorsed candidates who “failed to capitalize” on the president‘s support and lost their races.

“Given Jack’s history as a repeat loser, I believe it will be three losses in a row,” Spadea said. “Let the countdown begin: 29 days until Jack Ciattarelli last says the words ‘President Trump’ in his 2025 campaign.”

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

In 2015, Ciattarelli called Trump a “charlatan” who wasn’t fit for the presidency. During his 2021 run, Ciattarelli tried to reach moderates without losing Trump’s base but largely avoided talking about him. When he won the primary that year, he called himself a “Reagan Republican.”

Now he’s a “Trump Republican.”

“Jack, who after getting to know and understand MAGA, has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!),” Trump said in his endorsement post.

Political consultants who support Ciattarelli have compared his criticisms of Trump in past years with those expressed by Vice President JD Vance, another MAGA latecomer.

» READ MORE: The battle for President Trump’s endorsement reached new heights when candidates visited Bedminster

Ciattarelli, who was endorsed by the most Republican Party leaders in the state for this year‘s primary, cut out early from a Republican leadership convention in Atlantic City in March to visit Trump’s Bedminster country club. Ciattarelli supporters at the convention rumored with hope that Trump would endorse him after Ciattarelli shared a photo of the two posing together at the club.

But Republican political insiders admitted at the time that no one knew what Trump was going to do.

Spadea also met with the president at Bedminster that weekend, though he did not seem to have the same blessing to publicize the visit that Ciattarelli did.

» READ MORE: Kellyanne Conway expected Trump to weigh in on the gubernatorial primary

However, Spadea, who has also criticized the president in the past, has touted posing with Trump for photos in Wildwood last year and even hosted him on his radio show in May 2024.

Trump criticized Ciattarelli on air for not seeking out his support during his 2021 run and suggested that he could have won if he had done so. Trump said Spadea, on the other hand, had his back “since the beginning.”

“This guy never came to ask for my support,” Trump said of Ciattarelli. “And you know what? When MAGA sees that, they don’t like it, and they didn’t vote for him. He would have won easily if he did, but he didn’t do that. He thinks he’s hot stuff I guess, and he didn’t have to do that.”

» READ MORE: Taking on Donald Trump has become a requirement in the Democratic primary for N.J. governor

Trump has also had influence over the Democratic primary, where six candidates are arguing they can best fight against the president‘s administration.

Democrats foreshadowed their general election strategy of going on the offense over Republicans’ ties to Trump and leveraging dissatisfaction with the president to ask for support.

Ryan Radulovacki, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, said in a statement Monday that Ciattarelli will “always put loyalty to Trump first.”

“This is only a band-aid on a deeply contentious, bitter GOP primary that still has a month to go,” Radulovacki said. “The race to court Trump’s far-right MAGA base will cause turbulence for whoever emerges from this slugfest, long after June 10th.”

U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, one of the candidates in the Democratic primary, was getting ready to debate her Democratic competitors Monday evening when she heard the news and used the opportunity to ask for campaign contributions.

“This is a huge moment — all but ending the GOP primary, unlocking huge $$, and enabling our opponent to turn towards the general election," she said in a post on X about Trump’s support of Ciattarelli.