NJ Showdown: Ciattarelli piles on Dem rival after heated debate with scathing new ads

In two new ads that were first shared with Fox News on Thursday, Ciattarelli spotlighted a widely panned appearance by Sherrill on a popular radio show where she struggled to explain her wealth.

"So I think we made money," Sherrill says in one clip when asked about reported millions in money she and her husband, a multinational investment bank senior manager, made in stock trades. In the other ad, she says, "I haven't. I. I don't believe that I did, but I'd have to go see what, what that was alluding to."

Ciattarelli, in the ads, then argues, "Come on. Who wouldn't know if they made $7 million. New Jersey needs a governor who gets it. Mikie Sherrill doesn't. I do."

The Ciattarelli campaign told Fox News Digital that it will spend $2 million to run the ads on broadcast and cable TV and streaming.

"I've never broken the law," he said. "She had to pay federal fines for breaking federal law on stock trades and stock reporting."

Sherrill, firing back, said, "This is the same old misinformation that he continues to promote, because he knows that I don't trade in individual stocks, he knows I've gone above and beyond that. He also knows he promotes some garbage number, but he actually knows so much about my finances because they're all to the dollar."

Questions over Sherrill's wealth were first raised by her rivals earlier this year in the Democratic primary race. But her responses in "The Breakfast Club" interview amplified the controversy, as the Ciattarelli campaign and allied Republican groups heavily criticized the four-term federal lawmaker.

The claims by Ciattarelli have been amplified in recent weeks as the race between the two candidates has become increasingly bitter and personal.

Sherrill's campaign has denounced the attacks, with spokesman Sean Higgins saying that his candidate had been transparent and argued that Ciattarelli, who is also a multimillionaire, was not.

"Mikie does not own or trade individual stocks, and has gone 'above and beyond' releasing the exact values of her finances to the dollar," Higgins said in a statement. "And while New Jerseyans have zero insight into Jack Ciattarelli's net worth, they do know he made millions in profits off opioid misinformation."

Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, is making his third straight run for New Jersey governor. And four years ago, he grabbed national attention as he came close to upsetting Murphy.

It was during the 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli's connection to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.

"You're trying to divert from the fact you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda," Sherrill charged. "I think our kids deserve better. I think the people you got addicted and died deserve better than you."

Ciattarelli responded, saying, "With regard to everything she just said about my professional career, which provided for my family, it's a lie. I'm proud of my career."

"Shame on you," Ciattarelli added.

Sherrill shot back, "Shame on you, sir."

Cittarrelli then blamed the fentanyl crisis on former President Joe Biden's "open border" policies.

And at a post-debate news conference, he claimed the attack by Sherrill was "a desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate."

Sherrill, asked after the debate if she had proof directly linking Ciattarelli to the opioid deaths, told reporters, "I guess he's not really expressed anything about this. I think there's a lot we don't know. I think he continues to not be very transparent about it."

And this year's ballot box showdowns are viewed as crucial early tests of Trump's popularity and second-term agenda, and are considered key barometers ahead of next year's midterm elections for the U.S. House and Senate.

The winner of next month's election in New Jersey will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are very competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five out of the past ten elections.

And in the 2025 race, political history favors both parties. 

The party that wins the White House tends to lose the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections the following year, which favors the Democrats. But Democrats in New Jersey are also trying to buck history - it's been over six decades since a party won three straight Garden State gubernatorial elections.