Jack Ciattarelli, who had refused to back Donald Trump eight years ago, has now endorsed his party’s presumptive nominee for President.
The likely candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination next year, Ciattarelli said on social media that “with Super Tuesday now behind us, it’s time for the Republican Party to unite.”
“Record inflation has crushed working families; our southern border is a disaster, creating both a humanitarian crisis and threatening public safety, and just like here in New Jersey, government spending is out of control,” Ciattarelli said. “The fact is America was safer and more prosperous when Donald Trump was President. And so, as the Republican nominee, he has my support. America can’t afford four more years of Joe Biden.”
In 2016, Ciattarelli, then a GOP assemblyman from Somerset County preparing to run for governor the following year, called Trump a “charlatan” and condemned his behavior as embarrassing for the country.
“Sitting silently and allowing him to embarrass our country is unacceptable,” Ciattarelli stated at the time. “He is not fit to be president of the United States.”
But by the time Ciattarelli ran in 2021 – he came within three percentage points of defeating Gov. Phil Murphy – he had toned down his anti-Trump rhetoric and strategically straddled the line on his treatment of the former president.
Last year, Ciattarelli contributed $2,000 to former Gov. Chris Christie’s largely anti-Trump campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
The lone announced Republican candidate for governor, State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), has been steadfast in his criticism of Trump.
“Given his past comments, I guess Jack was holding out hope that someone else – anyone else – would enter the race for president, said Tom Bonfonti, a Republican strategist and advisor to Elect Common Sense, a group allied with another potential candidate, Bill Spadea. “Unfortunately for Jack, the internet is forever, so anyone can see that Jack proudly didn’t vote for Trump in 2016, he wanted Trump replaced by Mike Pence or Paul Ryan.”
Bonfonti alleged that Ciattarelli is “pretending to support President Trump to try to get votes from Trump supporters” now that he’s running for governor again.
“Jack’s comments prove who the true charlatan is, and it’s definitely not President Trump,” he said.
This story was updated at 1:59 PM with comment from Bonfonti.