Spadea announces bid for GOP gubernatorial nomination

Conservative radio talk show host Bill Spadea today announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 2025 with a pledge to make the state more affordable, stop indoctrinating kids at school, and prevent Joe Biden from sending those living in the U.S. illegally to New Jersey.

“I’m unapologetically conservative, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-Trump,” Spadea said.  “I’m running for governor to fight for you. I’m ready, willing, and able to lead with strength, conviction, and courage to restore common sense to our great state.”

Spadea promised to tackle “taxes, spending, borrowing, inflation — all out of control – (and) serious concern about the radical, liberal nonsense out kids are taught in school.”

“While we struggle, Trenton politicians have opened the floodgates for illegals getting free handouts on your dime,” he said. “I’ll make the tough budget cuts that scare the career politicians. We’ll fix the way we fund schools so suburban parents pay less property taxes. Give kids an education at school, not an indoctrination. We’ll stop Joe Biden from using our state as a dumping ground for his illegals, and end the handouts they get from Phil Murphy and weak sellout Republicans.”

Spadea has spent the last few years preparing for a gubernatorial run, methodically building a grassroots political organization, Common Sense Club, with the belief that he would need to combat the strength of organization lines in next year’s primary election.   With a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the line, Republicans may be ordered to use office block ballots next year.

“The insider establishment powerbrokers, well, they don’t like me,” Spadea said.  “Why? Because I’m an outsider they can’t control.”

But he likely won’t get shut out of the establishment sweepstakes.  Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore, who heads the most potent Republican organization in the state, has been working with Spadea for the last few years.

Spadea joins a Republican field that includes State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-Somerville), and former State Sen. Ed “The Trucker” Durr (R-Logan).

He staked out an early contrast with his primary opponents.

“If you’re okay with more of the same, the other Republicans running for governor will give you exactly that.  I’m running for the people who are sick and tired of expecting little from the politicians we elect, and getting even less,” stated Spadea.  “On the radio, I give power to those who deserve to have their voices heard. And that’s exactly what I’ll do as your governor.

In his launch video, Spadea immediately threw a grenade at Ciattarelli, who came within three percentage points of ousting Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021.

“Here’s a news flash: Republicans are never going to take back our state if we nominate a 35-year career politician who’s already lost twice for governor,” Spadea said.

He said New Jerseyans are expressing “serious concern about the radical liberal nonsense our kids are taught in school.”

“And while we struggle, Trenton politicians have opened the floodgates for illegals getting free handouts on your dime,” said Spadea.

NJ 101.5 has not yet announced if Spadea will remain on the airwaves as an announced candidate for governor.  Some read the Federal Communications Commission’s equal time guidelines to mean that an official candidacy begins when nominating petitions are filed.

Spadea has been around politics for most of his life

The 55-year-old Spadea grew up in Cherry Hill, the son of a machine shop owner and gun dealer active in Republican politics.  His grandfather was a Marine veteran who served on Guadalcanal as a World War II radar operator.

Spadea graduated from Boston University in 1991 and enlisted in the Marines.  He served as youth director for President George H.W. Bush’s 1992 re-election campaign and later became the national chairman of the College Republicans.

It was from the College Republicans post that Spadea began a three-decade effort to criticize the GOP establishment for abandoning conservative principles just to win elections.  He called on Republicans to abandon moderate politicians like Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a move that caused the Republican National Committee to defund his organization.

“No tent is big enough for diametrically opposed philosophies,” Spadea said in 1995.  “And to liberal Republicans who are pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, pro-big government, and anti-Second Amendment, I say: look, there is already a party that represents all those fundamental beliefs.”

Spadea spent eight years in the Marine Reserves and nearly two decades in the real estate industry, working as an executive at Weichert, a national company. He later moved full-time into media, hosting a morning drive-time talk show on NJ 101.5 and “Chasing News with Bill Spadea” on Fox-owned WWOR-TV. Spadea also hosts music and comedy shows and operates his own film production company.

In 2004, Spadea ran for Congress against three-term Rep. Rush Holt (D-Hopewell) in New Jersey’s 12th district.  The seat had been solidly Republican until 2002, when it was redrawn to favor Democrats.  Holt defeated Spadea by 56,677 votes, 59%-40%.

After Assemblyman Peter Biondi (R-Hillsborough) died two days after winning re-election in 2011, Spadea was one of four candidates to run in a January 2012 special election convention to fill his 16th district seat.  Readington Township Committeewoman Donna Simon beat Spadea 155-52.

Spadea’s expected announcement allows him to start raising hard money for the governor’s race.  New Jersey’s gubernatorial public financing law is generous, providing a match of $2 for every $1 raised; with the advent of super PACs after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, few candidates reject public financing.

The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, which administers the public financing program, is expected to announce contribution and spending limits for next year’s primary tomorrow.

Last month, former President Donald Trump appeared on Spadea’s morning drive-time show and signaled that he is a fan.

“You’ve had my back from the beginning. I know all about it. That’s why I’m talking to you. I turn, I turn down plenty of requests, I will tell you. But you’ve had my back, and I really appreciate it,” Trump told Spadea.  “You are fantastic.”

Durr is a longtime Trump backer, and Ciattarelli, who declined to back Trump in 2016 and 2020, endorsed him earlier this year.  Bramnick is staunchly anti-Trump.

If the field remains large – and with major candidates staying in the race through the June 2025 primary, it’s unlikely that either party can produce a nominee who wins with over 50%.

Since 1969, 11 of 14 gubernatorial elections had at least one primary where the nominee was picked with a margin of less than 50%; half of the winners received less than 50%, and just under half of those won primaries with under 33%.  Gov. Brendan Byrne won renomination to a second term in 1977 with 30%, and Gov. Thomas Kean became the Republican nominee in 1981 with 31%.  In 2017, the last time there was no incumbent in the race, neither candidate hit the 50% mark.

In 2023, Spadea launched a political action committee, Elect Common Sense.  He’s been working with two top political consultants, Bill Stepien and Tom Bonfonti.  Stepien is a former White House political director who managed Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign; Bonfonti is a former executive director of the Ocean County GOP with a big stable of New Jersey clients.

Earlier this year, a group of former Trump advisors, including Kellyanne Conway and Larry Weitzner, formed a super PAC intended to blunt Spadea’s ability to secure Trump voters in next year’s primary.

While New Jersey is viewed as a Democratic state, since 1970 both parties have won the governorship seven times.

The last time a political party won three consecutive gubernatorial elections was in 1961 and that election had extenuating circumstances.  The conventional wisdom is that next year’s governor’s race will be closely tied to the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, to the detriment of the party that wins the White House.

Murphy is term-limited, and four Democrats have already entered the race to succeed him: Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Senate President Steve Sweeney, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, the president of the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest public employee union.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, former Deputy U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jim Johnson, and others could also join the race.