Hours after Jack Ciattarelli took some jabs at his opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary, albeit not by name, rival Jon Bramnick used social media to swing back.
In his announcement speech, Ciattarelli seemingly took a shot at Bramnick, who enjoys personal relationships with key New Jersey Democrats, including Gov. Phil Murphy.
Ciattarelli said the GOP needs “a candidate who can convince Democrats to support our ideas – not one who suffers from a ‘minority mentality’ or surrenders to Democratic party bosses over hot dogs and hamburgers.”
That apparently angered Bramnick, a two-term moderate state senator with a history of preaching bipartisanship and greater civility in the statehouse.
“I got more done having hamburgers and hot dogs with Democrats than a perennial candidate has done running and losing for eight years,” Bramnick said. “Maybe because he hasn’t been in Trenton for a decade, he forgot who has the majority in the legislature. Hate is not a political strategy.”
Ciattarelli last night to some shots another likely candidate, NJ 101.5 radio host Bill Spadea, suggested that he would be “a candidate who understands that campaigns are won by addition, not subtraction or division.”
And Ciattarelli, a former three-term assemblyman who nearly ousted Murphy in 2021, also planted himself in between Bramnick and Spadea, calling for a gubernatorial nominee who can unite our party – not one who calls moderate Republicans ‘RINOS’ or calls Trump supporters ‘crazies.’