President Donald Trump lauded GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli and launched bitter attacks against his opponent, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), in a telephone rally a little more than 12 hours before early voting starts.
During the 13-minute “tele-rally,” Trump largely pushed Ciattarelli’s approach to energy, including a victory lap on the cancellation of funding for offshore wind farms across the country. Trump said New Jersey faces among the highest energy prices in the country, and claimed Sherrill would worsen the prices while Ciattarelli would “cut your energy costs in half.”
“He’s called my office five times talking about energy,” Trump said. “That’s all he wants to talk about, is energy.”
Trump did not mention the Gateway Tunnel project, an $18 billion effort to build rail tunnels connecting New Jersey and Manhattan. Trump’s promise to end the massive, decade-long rail project has thrown a wrench into Ciattarelli’s campaign, and Ciattarelli has promised to push for the project’s completion if elected, a potential rift with the president. Sherrill has attacked Ciattarelli over the issue in the closing weeks of the campaign, saying Ciattarelli will be unable to stand up to the president to protect Gateway or other New Jersey priorities.
The Trump administration suspended funding for the project on the first day of the ongoing federal government shutdown, and many Democrats interpreted the move as a negotiation tactic. The administration, however, claimed it paused funding to review “unconstitutional DEI principles” in the project. Despite the funding freeze, construction has continued on the project, though it’s unclear how long funding will last.
“When Jack got Trump on the phone tonight, he couldn’t even bring himself to say a word about New Jersey commuters and Trump’s attack on the Gateway Tunnel Project,” Sherrill said in a release. “It’s pathetic. But thankfully, New Jersey is ready to send Jack packing for a third time.”
Trump also leveled personal attacks against Sherrill, like her connection to a Naval Academy cheating scandal that led to her being blocked from participating in the graduation ceremony.
“[Ciattarelli’s] running against a fake and corrupt radical left Democrat opponent who had lots of problems in school, lots of problems with honesty for a long time,” Trump said. “Mikie Sherrill, such an innocent name, but her energy policies would send your prices soaring and make New Jersey even more expensive than it already is.”
The president hosted a similar tele-rally for Ciattarelli in the lead-up to June’s primary election.
Trump is the second president to get involved in the race. Former President Barack Obama will join Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), the Democratic nominee for governor, at an in-person Newark rally on Nov. 1.
Trump lost New Jersey in all three of his presidential runs, but made up ground in 2024, when he lost to Kamala Harris in the Garden State by about 6 percentage points. Earlier this month, Axios reported that Trump was planning tele-rallies but not expecting to hold an in-person event.
