MAGA Mounts Bid for GOP Nomination in New Jersey Against the Mainstream

It’s MAGA versus the mainstream in Tuesday’s GOP gubernatorial primary, as two candidates who adhere to the ideology of Donald Trump face off against a former state assemblyman who fits the pre-Trump Republican mold. The contest is particularly notable because it’s the first statewide election in the country since the November presidential contest (Virginia also has a gubernatorial election Tuesday), and so it might serve as a test of whether Trumpism has staying power. 

The winner faces Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who does not have an opponent in his party’s primary. Murphy is relatively popular in this blue state, but only 48% of respondents in a recent Monmouth University poll said he deserves a second term. Plus, he’s up against history: An incumbent Democrat hasn’t been reelected governor in New Jersey since 1977. 

While the state’s electorate consistently votes Democratic in statewide races, independents represent a sizable swing vote and the Republican electorate is largely behind Trump -- polled after the election, a majority said they didn’t think he lost last November’s election. 

Candidates Hirsh Singh, an engineer who has unsuccessfully run for congress, governor, and senate, and Phil Rizzo, a real estate developer and pastor, both believe that former President Trump won. Singh called Trump the greatest president of his lifetime at a debate last month, and Rizzo describes himself as the “medical freedom candidate,” claiming masks don’t work and have psychologically damaged children. 

Jack Ciattarelli, a former accountant and business owner who served two terms in the Assembly and unsuccessfully sought the Republican gubernatorial nomination four years ago, is the front-runner. He secured endorsements from all 21 county GOP committees and has spent five times more on the race than his opponents. He is running the most traditional Republican campaign, focused on the state’s high property taxes, opposition to sanctuary state policies that protect undocumented immigrants, and criticism of Murphy for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic -- particularly deaths at nursing homes and lockdown restrictions that hurt businesses.

To read the rest of this story, go to Gothamist.com.