GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli has made it clear he wants to elect Republicans down the ballot. But with distrust of the electoral system still prevalent, part of that fight is convincing other Republicans the elections are legitimate.
Ciattarelli hosted a town hall Tuesday night with Senate candidate Curtis Bashaw and congressional candidate Mary Jo Guinchard in the Bergen County town of Teaneck, where the trio discussed the plethora of issues one would expect at any town hall: land use, energy, taxes, crime, and more.
But Republican voters who attended offered one consistent refrain: a lack of trust in elections. The distrust manifested itself in several concerns: noncitizen voting, voting machines, poll volunteer shortages, voter ID, and voting by mail.
Ciattarelli, who in 2021 shrugged aside baseless conspiracies that his gubernatorial loss was because of a rigged election, said he supported electoral reforms like voter ID laws and the prohibition of 16- and 17-year-olds from voting in local elections — Newark recently gave those over 16 the right to vote in school board races. But from there he tried to assuage concerns about the electoral system and told voters to not let their trust be shaken.
“What I always say when we get to this kind of discussion is, let’s not — particularly as Republicans — psych ourselves out,” Ciattarelli said at the town hall. “Okay, let’s not go into thinking that they’ve got us already beat, right?”
National polls show about 30 percent of Republicans have little to no confidence in votes being counted correctly, and another 30 percent have moderate confidence. Much of the distrust stems from former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against the GOP.
“If Curtis and I, or Mary Jo and I, are opposing coaches in the Super Bowl, and I’ve already got her team convinced that the officials are on my side, I’ve won before the opening kickoff,” Ciattarelli said.
Still, skepticism permeates among New Jersey Republicans.
Teaneck GOP Chair Cal Greenberg, who opened the town hall with remarks, called Ciattarelli “governor” because “he really won that election.” Ciattarelli, seated near the front of the room, didn’t visibly react to the line.
Instead, he tried turning misgivings into hope. Ciattarelli said Republican voter registration outpaced Democratic registration by 200,000 in New Jersey since his 2021 electoral loss, a signal that a Jersey Republican could be elected to the Senate for the first time in 52 years.
Ciattarelli said Guinchard’s opponent, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff), is weak because the Democrat is running a “shadow” governor’s campaign.
And, after sharing that he has confidence in the election system while still wanting to strengthen vote-by-mail security, he implored Republicans to get involved as poll watchers or workers.
“If you want change, you’ve got to make a change,” he said.