Report: Melinda Ciattarelli interested in U.S. Senate bid

There could be a Murphy vs. Ciattarelli, rematch in 2024.

Save Jersey reported on Sunday that Melinda Ciattarelli, the estranged wife of former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, is mulling a bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate next year.

“She’s chatted with close friends and two county chairs, and she’s planning to make phone calls over the next couple of weeks,” Republican strategist Steve Kush, who is advising Ciattarelli, told Save Jersey.

Those two chairs are believed to be Jacci Vigilante of Gloucester and Tim Howes of Somerset.

Ciattarelli, who came within three percentage points of unseating Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021, announced in June that he and his wife have separated.

Kush told Save Jersey that Melinda Ciattarelli’s decisions are unrelated to her husband’s plan to run for governor again in 2025.  He told the Republican site that a decision will come within the next few weeks.

“She has raised a family, she ran a small business which got crushed by Covid-19, and now she’s taking a new step,” Kush told Save Jersey editor Matt Rooney.

Republicans have not yet settled on a U.S. Senate candidate for the seat currently held by indicted Democrat Bob Menendez.  First Lady Tammy Murphy, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), and former Newark school board member Lawrence Hamm are already seeking the Democratic nomination.  Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) is also testing the waters.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) announced on Friday that he would not seek the U.S. Senate seat; instead, he will seek run for re-election to his 2nd district House seat and serve as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman in New Jersey.

Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner entered the Senate race in September, four days before the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Menendez, a three-term senator, with bribery and conspiracy.  They added a charge of working as an unregistered agent of a foreign government in October.

Menendez has not said if he will seek re-election.

Melinda Ciattarelli is one of three new potential candidates to emerge last week: former News 12 New Jersey reporter Alex Zdan said on Friday he is considering a U.S. Senate run; and Curtis Bashaw, the former executive director of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Authority, is also making calls to gauge support for a Senate run.

There are also three minor candidates on the Republican side: Daniel Cruz, a former member of the Andover Regional School District Board of Education; perennial candidate Gregg Mele, the 2021 Libertarian nominee for governor; and small business owner Michael Estrada, who won 1% of the vote in an independent State Assembly bid six years ago.