It’s not clear whether the Republican gubernatorial nominee in New Jersey was going to use a gendered epithet or not.
In video footage captured at a fundraiser in early October, Jack Ciattiarelli paraphrased how President Donald Trump spoke to him on the phone ahead of the contest with Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
“Now I’m going to tell you exactly how he puts it on the phone and I’ll let you finish the sentence, but what he always says is: ‘You gotta beat this …’” Ciatarelli said, trailing off and leaving the word Trump used unsaid as members of the crowd laughed. “We’re going to win. We’re going to win, Mr. President. We’re going to win this thing.”
The moment drew condemnations from prominent New Jersey women’s groups, but it wasn’t a major scandal or controversy the way a similar comment may have been in a time before Trump. It’s indicative of how gender has infused the state’s governor’s race, as Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, has balanced talk of her military record with her perspective as a mother, while Ciattarelli has leaned into a brash, New Jersey tough guy persona.
“It’s that kind of talk that’s very New Jersey,” said Kelly Dittmar, an associate professor at Rutgers University and director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). “It’s not explicitly misogynistic; we don’t know what he really said, but it’s this very manly-man situation. There’s some of that with him. It’s not as overt as Trump.”
Sherrill, like many women candidates, is balancing multiple identities: Her campaign messaging highlights her experiences as a military veteran, a mother of four and a centrist Democratic lawmaker who has prized pragmatism, reaching across the aisle and achieving tangible results in office.
It’s an approach that helped her succeed in flipping a Republican-held U.S. House district in 2018, a Democratic wave year. She joined a group of centrist Democrats with backgrounds in military service and national security who were elected at the height of the Democratic resistance to Trump and in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Seven years later, the political environment is far different. Trump resoundingly won a second term on an aggressive, ascendant view of masculinity after being found liable for sexual abuse in an election year when inflation and costs led voters’ concerns. Democrats, shut out of power in Washington, are searching for their path out of the wilderness.
Polls have shown a close race between the two candidates, with Sherrill holding a single-digit lead over Ciattarelli in the final stretch. New Jersey has long been solidly blue at the statewide level but saw a dramatic rightward shift in the 2024 presidential election, with Trump gaining significant ground among working-class and non-White voters, especially. In 2021, Ciattarelli came three points away from defeating Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is now term-limited. New Jersey also has a history of electing Republican governors; before Murphy, Republican Chris Christie served two terms in the governor’s office.
Both candidates’ messaging has focused on the economy and cost of living, which still consistently register as top issues for voters. Some Democrats have worried that Sherrill struggles to garner enthusiasm and have questioned whether her approach is overly cautious and scripted at a time when voters are prizing authenticity and relatability. But those expectations alone, Dittmar said, are inherently gendered.
“The criteria we use to gauge authenticity for women and men has often been different,” Dittmar said. “If a woman has to continually prove that she’s qualified, and men are assumed to be even that alone, it leaves more space for men to behave in ways and to talk in ways and to present a message in ways that are particularly authentic to them.”
In addition to allying himself with Trump, Ciattarelli has leaned into an identity as a “Jersey guy” to bolster his own authenticity and credibility over that of Sherrill, who grew up in Virginia and moved to New Jersey as an adult.
“Ciattarelli can get away with, ‘I’m a New Jersey guy and I’m Italian,’” Dittmar said. “He’s getting more credit for that than if a woman ran the same campaign.”
Sherrill has highlighted her background as a Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor alongside her identity as a mother. She was among the first class of women Naval Academy graduates who were able to fly in all combat roles and served nine years in the Navy, where she earned 10 service medals.
“I think she’s choosing that and to present both of those identities because they are the primary identities that are important to her,” Dittmar said. “But for those of us who also look at the strategic calculation, it feels like she’s balancing it. I think it’s a little bit of both, quite honestly.”
In the final stretch of the campaign, Ciattarelli has been embroiled in further controversy after a video surfaced of his Muslim relations adviser, an unpaid position, expressing support for a ban on same-sex marriage and making a remark about not taking money from Jewish donors. Sherrill and other Democrats denounced the comments as homophobic and anti-Semitic. In response, Ciattarelli stated that he supports same-sex marriage and has stood by the adviser, Ibrar Nadeem.
“Do you ever get tired of lying @MikieSherrill?,” Ciattarelli posted on X. “You know I support same sex marriage. You also know the full clip of Dr. Nadeem’s remarks are clear: He was talking about the grief he gets from some BECAUSE of my unwavering support for the Jewish community and Israel and his own efforts to build bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim communities.”
Even on issues where Ciattarelli and Sherrill find agreement, a gendered lens still infuses their approaches.
At the end of a contentious October 8 debate, one of the few areas of common ground between the two candidates surfaced when they were asked if they supported New Jersey remaining the only state that bans drivers from pumping their own gas. Sherrill referenced her identity as a mother while Ciattarelli invoked his idea of “Jersey girls.”
“I’ve come into New Jersey on fumes from Delaware, especially when my kids were little, and in the rain, so I think a lot of people really love our state laws as they are,” Sherrill responded.
“We have too many dubious distinctions … and I’ll fix a great many of those, but one of our special differences here in New Jersey: We don’t have to pump our own gas,” Ciattarelli said. “Jersey girls don’t like to pump their own gas. We’ll continue at full service.”
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