Belaaz Interview: Jack Ciattarelli, GOP Candidate for NJ Gov. Says Jews Make State More ‘Intellectually, Culturally, Economically’ Vibrant

Mere days before New Jersey decides who its next governor will be, Belaaz spoke with Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli.

Ciattarelli is a former State Assemblyman and businessman who ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2017 and was nominated in the 2021 race, before throwing his hat in this year’s election. He currently faces Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill.

He’s campaigning on a platform of relieving economic stress for Jersey residents, championing school choice initiatives, and has promised to create a special advisory board to tackle rising antisemitism.

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First of all, can you tell our viewers why you’re running?

I want to fix New Jersey. It’s broken in so many ways. We have an affordability crisis because of property taxes and now because of electricity rates. Housing is too expensive. Childcare is too expensive. All the insurances are too expensive because we’re one of the worst places in the country in which to do business. So I have very specific plans on how to fix that. To make New Jersey more affordable.

We have a crisis in public education. We’ve watered down our public school curriculum. We need to get back on track, teaching critical life skills.

We have a public safety crisis in New Jersey. Nonviolent crime has spiked because of things like cashless bail. We need to reform that, make our community safe again.

And we have a housing crisis in New Jersey. In some areas we’re overdeveloped, and then other areas we don’t have enough housing. So those are all the issues that we need to address, and I have very specific plans on how to do that


I think Jews realize very well that how extreme and far left the Democratic Party is going, especially when it comes to Israel. And today, people mix antisemitism with anti-Israel sentiment. If someone hates Israel, they’re pretty much, you know, aiming at the Jews as well. But here in New Jersey, the community has a pretty good relationship with the outgoing governor, Phil Murphy. So what’s so bad if someone decides to go vote Democrat this time around?


Phil Murphy’s policies have failed New Jersey. It’s why we have a public education crisis, a public safety crisis, a housing crisis and an affordability crisis. And I’m not so sure that Phil Murphy has called out antisemitism for what it is, each time he has seen it.

I appoint the Attorney General. I appoint the 21 county prosecutors. I appoint the superintendent State Police. That’s the hierarchy of law enforcement here in New Jersey, and I’ll make sure they’re very sensitive to needs, concerns and worries of the Jewish community.

I’ll also establish an Advisory Council on Jewish relations.

I very much want to increase bilateral trade with Israel. New York does seven times the bilateral trade with Israel that New Jersey does. That presents an economic development opportunity that we would all benefit from.

But more than anything, I want to certainly attack the antisemitism that we see all throughout New Jersey. New Jersey leads the nation on a per capita basis of anti semitic acts. That needs to change, definitely.


This question might be more sensitive, but we see now what it’s called, far right in the Republican Party, like, you know, Representative Marjorie Taylor green and Matt Gaetz, former representative you know, people that are aligned more with people like Tucker Carlson, who are saying are expressing a lot of anti-Israel views, and it’s triggering a lot of antisemitism, especially on social media. Do you have a comment on that?


I’m a New Jersey Republican, and I concern myself with our 9.3 million citizens, of which 600,000 are Jews. They make the state more intellectually vibrant, more culturally vibrant, certainly more economically vibrant, and I want to work in partnership with them to make sure their community thrives here in New Jersey.

That’s exactly what I’ll do, but I’ll do that for all minority communities all throughout New Jersey. We need to strengthen our community all throughout New Jersey here, and that’s one of my goals as governor.

What’s your message to Jewish community, just days before the election?

Come on out and vote. The Democrats have controlled our legislature for 25 years. They’ve had the executive branch for the last eight years. If you want change, you have to make a change. I know some of the things that are very important in the Jewish community are things like vouchers and certainly charter schools, educational choice. Those are none of the things that the Democrat is ever going to give you, because they’re owned by the teachers union. Teachers Union doesn’t support any of those things I do.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.