In new ad, Ciattarelli hits Sherrill on answer regarding stocks

Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli launched an ad on Thursday criticizing a May statement from Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) regarding her personal finances.

The ad features a clip of Sherrill struggling to answer a question about her finances during an episode of The Breakfast Club radio show in May, before she had sewn up the Democratic nomination for governor. In the clip, Sherrill said she had to look into her finances to answer a question about her stock trades. In the ad, Ciattarelli portrayed the answer as out of touch, saying, “Who wouldn’t know they made seven million dollars?”

The ad will air on digital, cable TV, and broadcast TV.

The clip has repeatedly made rounds online, even after Sherrill released her family’s finances, showing no unusual gains from stock trades. The majority of their wealth came from her husband’s lucrative job at a New York investment bank. Sherrill began the process of selling all her individual stocks in 2019, toward the tail end of her first term in Congress.

Sherrill and her husband are worth about $9.4 million. Tax filings show Ciattarelli has made nearly $15 million in income before taxes in the last 13 years.

Mail-in ballots have been sent to voters throughout the state. Early, in-person voting runs from Oct. 25 to Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 4.

Script:

[Ciattarelli] “I’m Jack Ciattarelli, born and raised right here in New Jersey, where it’s never been harder for the middle class. As governor, I have a plan to fix our state. In Congress, the only thing Mikie Sherrill fixed is her bank account.” 

[Charlamagne Tha God] “Well, did you make $7 million in stock trades at all?” 

[Sherrill] “I … I haven’t … I don’t believe I did, but I’d have to go see what that was alluding to.”

[Ciattarelli] “Come on. Who wouldn’t know they made seven million dollars? New Jersey needs a governor who gets it. Mikie Sherrill doesn’t. I do.”