Republican Ciattarelli, at ‘Hannity’ town hall, claims momentum in NJ gov. race

POINT PLEASANT, NJ – With Election Day six days away and one of the nation’s two races for governor this year potentially heading towards a tight end, New Jersey Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli is highlighting the state’s strong early voting numbers.

“We’ve seen more Republicans voting by mail than ever before,” Ciattarelli said during a town hall Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity.” he said.

The town hall at this Jersey Shore beach resort, hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, took place on the sixth day of the state’s early in-person voting period. Nearly a million voters have already voted in person or by mail ballot; That was well ahead of the pace at which Ciattarelli came close to upsetting Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago.

Now, in his third bid for governor of the Garden State, Ciattarelli faces Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill in a highly competitive and tight race to replace the term-limited Murphy.

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“The response rate has been phenomenal. And here, for the first five or six days of early voting, which runs through Sunday, we’ve matched them voter to voter. That puts us in a really good position to win,” Ciattarelli said. he said.

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But Sherrill, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew helicopters throughout his military career and briefly served as a federal prosecutor before winning his first election to Congress in 2018, also praised the early voting numbers, calling them “really great news.”

“We’re seeing great results in mail-in voting and early voting,” he told Fox News Digital after a meeting at a senior center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Wednesday. “Of course the trend is much better than ’21.”

Representative Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, greets voters at a senior center in Elizabeth, N.J., on October 29, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Ciattarelli, a onetime certified public accountant who founded a medical publishing company before entering politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, received President Donald Trump’s endorsement at the close of the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination earlier this year. Trump’s endorsement helped Ciattarelli to an easy and convincing primary victory in a nomination race focused on support for the president.

Ciattarelli has been joined on the campaign trail in the past two weeks by former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, two top MAGA stars and leading allies of President Donald Trump.

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Trump headlined a tele-rally for Ciattarelli last Friday on the eve of the start of early voting, and his campaign told Fox News Digital that another tele-rally with the president is expected before Election Day.

In a likely close election in which getting core voters to the polls will be crucial, there is hope that tele-rallies with the president and recent campaign visits by Ramaswamy and Donalds will energize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low-propensity voters who often skip voting in non-presidential election years.

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy manages a campaign event for New Jersey GOP candidate for governor Jack Ciattarelli on October 15, 2025 in Saddle Brook, NJ (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

“We’re going after the one in four Republicans who typically only vote in presidential years,” Ciattarelli said during the Hannity town hall. “Our local Republican organizations have done a fantastic job getting these people to vote by mail or vote early.”

In blue-leaning New Jersey, Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections, while Republicans are fiercely competitive in gubernatorial races, winning five of the last 10 elections.

While Democrats still have a large voter registration advantage over Republicans in New Jersey, the GOP has narrowed the gap in the four years since Ciattarelli fell short of victory.

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And Trump made big gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election; His state lost just six percentage points, a huge improvement from its 16-point deficit four years ago.

Pointing out that Trump finished 2024 in New Jersey, Ciattarelli said, “This development means that there are 300,000 more people in favor of the president today compared to 2021.”

Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli, answers questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity during the “Hannity” town hall on October 30, 2025 in Point Pleasant, NJ. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

Ciattarelli wasn’t just predicting a win at the top, he was also predicting a GOP victory in the bottom votes in the state legislature that Democrats have controlled for nearly a quarter-century.

Noting that the GOP flipped eight seats “with the wind in my face” in 2021, Ciattarelli said, “With the wind at my back, I can flip 13 seats, and that gives us a Republican majority for the first time in nearly three decades.” He predicted.

The town hall comes as three new polls released Thursday point to a single-digit contest with Sherrill’s advantage.

A Fox News poll conducted last Friday through Tuesday (Oct. 24-28) showed Sherrill leading Ciattarelli 52-45% among likely voters in New Jersey. A Quinnipiac University poll suggested Sherrill was up nine points, while a Suffolk University poll showed Ciattarelli trailing by just four points.

But other recent research shows an even tighter competition between Sherrill and Ciattarelli.

New Jersey traditionally elects a governor from the party that is not in power in the White House, which this year favored the Democrats.

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But Garden State voters have not elected a governor from the same party in three consecutive elections in more than half a century, which would favor Republicans.

One of these political trends will collapse in next month’s elections.