By Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
A Hillsborough resident and state legislator has formally thrown his name into next year’s gubernatorial election, as Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli gets ready to announce his candidacy next week.
According to his office, the Republican lawmaker will make his announcement on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at Manville High School.
Mr. Ciattarelli, who served four years as a Somerset County Freeholder from 2007 to 2011 prior to becoming a representative for Legislative District 16, pointed to the existing political climate within the state as the impetus for his run.
“New Jersey has been heading in the wrong direction for decades. Under both Democratic and Republican administrations and state legislatures, we’ve reached the tipping point,” he said in a press release. “Instead of real solutions, we’re stuck with commissions and task forces that talk about problems instead of solving them, and special interests that spend tens of millions each election to preserve the failed status quo.”
Citing the state’s low ranking in regard to a number of issues, including economic growth, debt and property taxes, Mr. Ciattarelli said his campaign will strive to appeal to voters on either side of the aisle, as well as the state’s more than two million unaffiliated voters.
“I have seen Trenton from the inside – it isn’t working. And so, next week I will commence a campaign intended to challenge conventional wisdom and chart a new direction for New Jersey that brings opportunity and optimism back to our great state,” he said.
Mr. Ciattarelli’s upcoming announcement makes him the third individual vying for the governor’s mansion.
Last November, Ocean County entrepreneur and political newcomer Joseph Rudy Rullo announced his intentions to run as a Republican. For the Democratic ticket, former United States Ambassador to Germany and former Goldman Sachs executive Phillip D. Murphy announced his candidacy back in May.
Other individuals, including Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney and New Jersey Democratic State Committee Chairman Tom Byrne are among the potential names to run.
