Ciattarelli wins December

Jack Ciattarelli, Republican candidate for Governor

By Art Gallagher

The race for the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey kicked off in December with dueling videos, social media posts, press releases and endorsements announced by the campaigns for Jack Ciatarelli and Doug Steinhardt.

Ciattarelli won the month and is a superior position going into the pre-nominating conventions, pre-primary season of January, February and March.

Steinhardt’s campaign get’s slightly higher marks for the quality and quantity of their videos (with one curious major flaw I’ll get into in a later post) and social media campaign. But the former Lopatcong mayor’s media team is falling down on the job terribly. My inbox is full of Jack’s press releases. Zilch from Doug.

Ciattarelli won December because of the endorsements from party leaders and elected officials he received throughout the state that all but guarantee him “the line” — the official party support in the primary which comes with favorable ballot position and built in organizational support in 5 counties, Atlantic, Burlington, Hunterdon and Somerset (his home.) Jack also received significant endorsements in Morris County. The Morris GOP has not awarded “the line” historically, but is considering doing so this year.

Steinhardt got endorsements only in Warren County, his home where he is the County GOP Chairman.

This race is far from over, but Ciattarelli starts the year with an edge.

MMM will spending January doing a deep dive into the records of both Ciattarelli and Steinhardt. Hopefully we’ll have live interviews with both candidates. Ciatterelli has accepted our invitation. Steinhardt has not responded.

UPDATE

Jack is off to a stronger January too. He was in Ocean County administering the Oath of Office today to recently elected Republicans.

Did Lacey Township Republicans drop a hint by asking Jack Ciattarelli to swear in Deputy Mayor Nick Juliano? Lacey has a big block of votes at the county GOP convention to award the organization line. pic.twitter.com/XBLR744XME
— David Wildstein (@wildstein) January 1, 2021

Doug was home playing the piano.

The easiest way to avoid the wrong notes is to never play in the first place. That’s like life. Mine led from my family’s farm to @TeamSteinhardt. And while I don’t play a piano as much as I like to, I still try (wrong notes & all) 👉 https://t.co/93jkK3lAkE pic.twitter.com/ArmJ6nE6d5
— Douglas Steinhardt (@DSteinhardtEsq) January 1, 2021