Murphy campaign seeks to tie Ciattarelli to Trump, Christie

Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign manager tonight sought to tie the new front-runner for the GOP gubernatorial, Jack Ciattarelli, to President Donald Trump — and to unpopular former Gov. Chris Christie

“While Doug Steinhardt is exiting the race for Governor, the other Republicans still vying for their party’s nomination share his total support for President Trump and his embrace of Trump’s disastrous policies that are continuing to hurt New Jerseyans,” Mollie Binotto said in a statement released just 17 minutes after the New Jersey Globe first reported that Steinhardt has exited the race.

Steinhardt had attacked Ciattarelli for failing to back Trump in 2016, but now the Murphy campaign is seeking to link his likely general election opponent to the outgoing president.

“Just last week, Jack Ciattarelli responded to the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol by channeling Trump’s infamous ‘both sides’ defense of white supremacists in Charlottesville, completely failing to place the blame on Trump, his enablers, and his followers,” Binotto said.  “Ciattarelli refuses to stand up to Trump just like he declined to ever say no to Chris Christie when he was in the Assembly. New Jersey voters won’t go back — not after the shameful direction Governor Christie, President Trump, and Republican leadership have taken.”