The two most recent Republican nominees for governor of New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli and Kim Guadagno, both gave substantial donations to the presidential campaign of their predecessor, Gov. Chris Christie.
The day after Christie launched his campaign last month, Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman who lost to Gov. Phil Murphy by 3 points two years ago, donated $1,000. The donation is notable given that Ciattarelli is running for governor once again in 2025, and his financial support of Christie puts him at odds with many GOP primary voters.
Ciattarelli declined to comment on the donation, saying through a spokesperson that he has not made an official endorsement in the presidential race.
Guadagno, meanwhile, gave $300 on June 29 to the man she served under for eight years as lieutenant governor and secretary of state – even though she is officially no longer a Republican, having switched her party registration to unaffiliated in 2021.
Guadagno wasn’t the only member of Christie’s administration to donate. Also giving money to the campaign were former State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff; former Commissioner of Environmental Protection Bob Martin; former Commissioner of Community Affairs Rich Constable; Michele Brown, the former CEO of the Choose New Jersey; Richard Bagger, Regina Egea and Kevin O’Dowd, Christie’s former chiefs of staff; Charles McKenna, Thomas Scrivo, and James DiGiulio, all former chief counsels; and Chris Porrino, John Hoffman, and Jeffery Chiesa, all former attorneys general (and the latter, briefly, a U.S. Senator).
Several other notable Republican elected officials donated to Christie’s campaign as well, though none currently hold office: former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former New Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, former U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-Toms River), former State Sens. Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown) and former Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce (R-Parsippany), and former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino (R-Rockaway).
Kyrillos, a former GOP state chairman, had a period of breakage with Christie, backing Jeb Bush for president instead in 2016.
Randy Mastro, who was brought in by Christie to conduct a now-discredited $10 million independent investigation of the Bridgegate scandal, is also on the list of donors. So did Debra Wong Yang, a former federal prosecutor from California who worked with Mastro on the Bridgegate probe and also received a lucrative federal monitoring contract when Christie was U.S. Attorney; another federal monitor, former U.S. District Court Judge Herbert Stern, also contributed to Christie.
In total, Christie raised $1.6 million in the month that he was a candidate. That puts him well behind the frontrunners for the Republican nomination, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who raised $17 million and $20 million, respectively, during the second quarter.
In New Jersey alone, Christie reported raising $365,811, though around a third of his total is unitemized and thus could have come from anywhere. New Jersey was by far the most important state in Christie’s financial coalition; the next biggest donor state was Florida, with $123,550.
But DeSantis still seemingly beat Christie in New Jersey, reporting $409,415 from New Jersey donors. Trump reported raising $179,521 from New Jersey, just ahead of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s $164,775.
Other noteworthy New Jersey donors to Christie’s campaign include:
- Nicole Tepper, wife of hedge fund manager David Tepper
- Roger Bodman, Commissioner of Labor during Gov. Tom Kean’s administration
- Michele Siekerka, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association
- Peter Sheridan, former Republican State Committee executive director
- Murray Kushner, brother of real estate developer Charles Kushner and uncle of Jared Kushner
- Scott Coffina, former Burlington County Prosecutor
- Mike DuHaime, Christie gubernatorial campaign strategist
- Gail Gordon, current New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority commissioner
- Dianne Solomon, former Board of Public Utilities commissioner
- Richard Mroz, former Board of Public Utilities president and chief counsel to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman
- Samuel Raia, former Republican State Chairman
- Raymond Chambers, financier and philanthropist
- Jeffrey Vanderbeek, former New Jersey Devils owner and Ciattarelli finance chair
- Russell Hewit, head of law firm Christie worked at before becoming U.S. Attorney
- Dale Florio, a Trenton lobbyist and a top Ciattarelli advisor
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