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

POINT PLEASANT, N.J. — With six days to go until Election Day and one of only two gubernatorial races in the country this year leaning toward a potential tight end, New Jersey Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli highlights the state’s strong early voting numbers.

“We’ve seen more Republicans return to vote by mail ballot than ever before,” Ciattarelli said Thursday during a town hall Thursday. Fox News “Hannity”.

The town hall, hosted by Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity in this coastal community along the Jersey Shore, took place six days into the state’s early in-person voting period. Nearly 1 million voters have already cast ballots, either in person or by mail-in voting, far exceeding the pace of four years ago when Ciattarelli came close to upsetting Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

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

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New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli joins host Sean Hannity for a “Hannity” town hall on Fox News, on October 30, 2024 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

“The rate of return has been tremendous. And here in the first five or six days of this Early votingwhich runs through Sunday, we’ve matched them voter for voter. “This puts us in a really good position to win,” Ciattarelli said.

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But Sherrill, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who piloted helicopters during her military career and briefly served as a federal prosecutor before winning her first run for Congress in 2018, is also touting the early voting numbers, calling them “really great news.”

“We are seeing such great results in mail-in voting and early voting,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday after a meet-and-greet at a senior center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. “The trend is certainly much better than in ’21.”

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

Ciattarelli, who was a certified public accountant, started a medical publishing company before entering politics and winning election as a state legislator, rising to the office of president Donald TrumpEarlier this year, in the closing stages of the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination race. Trump’s support helped Ciattarelli achieve an easy and convincing primary victory in a nomination race centered on the president’s support.

Ciattarelli has been joined on the campaign trail over the past two weeks by two major MAGA stars and key allies of President Donald Trump’s allies — former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.

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Trump led a rally by phone with Ciattarelli last Friday, the eve of the start of early voting, and his campaign told Fox News Digital that another phone rally with the president was expected before that. Election day.

In a potentially close election where getting primary voters to the polls will be crucial, the hope is that phone rallies with the president, and the recent campaign stops for Ramaswamy and Donalds, will motivate MAGA supporters, many of whom are low-propensity voters who often skip casting ballots in non-presidential election years.

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

“We’re going after one in four Republicans … who typically only vote in presidential years,” Ciattarelli said during Hannity’s town hall. “We did a great job, as did our local Republican organizations, in convincing these people to vote by mail or vote early.”

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are highly competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five of the past 10 elections.

While Democrats still hold a significant advantage in voter registration over Republicans in New Jersey, the GOP has narrowed the gap in the four years since Chiattarelli failed to achieve victory.

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Trump made big gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, losing the state by just six percentage points, a significant improvement over his 16-point deficit four years ago.

“This improvement means there are 300,000 more people today who support the president than there were in 2021,” Ciattarelli said, pointing to Trump’s 2024 demise in New Jersey.

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

Ciattarelli was not only anticipating a win at the top of the ticket, but also down-ballot victories for the GOP in the state Legislature, which Democrats have controlled for nearly a quarter-century.

Noting that the GOP has flipped eight seats in 2021 “with the wind at my face,” Chiattarelli predicted that “with the wind at my back this time I could flip 13 seats and that gives us a Republican majority for the first time in nearly three decades.”

The city council was held as three new public opinion polls released Thursday indicated a single-digit contest with Sherrill ahead.

A Fox News poll conducted last Friday through Tuesday (October 24-28) indicated Sherrill leading Ciattarelli 52%-45% among likely voters in New Jersey. A Quinnipiac University poll put Sherrill ahead by nine points, while a Suffolk University poll put Ciattarelli behind by just four points.

But other recent polls have indicated a tougher contest between Sherrill and Ciattarelli.

New Jersey traditionally elects a governor from the party outside of power in the White House, which favors Democrats this year.

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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 be checked in next month’s elections.