PARSIPPANY, New Jersey — In an open six-way primary race for governor, New Jersey Democrats are focused on pushing back on their common enemy: President Donald Trump.
From Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) using artificial intelligence to depict himself physically taking on Trump, to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka suing the president’s pick to be U.S. attorney to the state over his arrest, Democrats are trying to varying degrees to work out a pitch to voters that they are the right person to take on Trump and his administration.
In addition to Gottheimer and Baraka, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, former state Sen. Steve Sweeney, and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller are also vying for the Democratic nomination to replace term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ).
Sherill, who appears to be the slight front-runner in the race told a group of supporters in Parsippany, New Jersey, that her supporters are looking for someone to “fight back against Donald Trump and make sure that MAGA, and DOGE, and the attacks we are seeing on our rights, and our freedoms, and our economy are stopped at the border of New Jersey.”
Gottheimer, who represents a northern New Jersey district, has also framed himself as the best candidate to take on Trump. He put out an ad that depicted himself through AI taking on Trump in a boxing match.
“You wanna work with Jersey, I’ll be with you,” Gottheimer said in a campaign ad. “You mess with Jersey, I’m gonna mess with you. President Trump has been messing with people here, their Social Security, their Medicare, their Medicaid, he’s coming after our families, he’s coming after our Department of Education and our schools. Listen, that’s unacceptable, and I’m going to fight him.”
Gottheimer was the only Democrat in New Jersey’s congressional delegation to support the controversial Laken Riley Act, which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and deport undocumented immigrants accused of minor offenses. He told supporters in Paramus, New Jersey, that “ordering the roundup of innocent undocumented people in churches and schools and restaurants is totally unacceptable,” but that he believes “if you are a violent criminal, you shouldn’t be here in our state, or our country.”
Fulop, meanwhile, has stressed that he would work to ensure some measures become law to protect targeted communities, like the Immigrant Trust Act, which would codify limits on state and local law authorities’ cooperation with federal immigration officials. The mayor has noted, however, that he believes much of pushing back against Trump is the responsibility of Congress.
In an apparent diss to Sherrill and Gottheimer, Fulop said at a meet-and-greet event in Englewood, New Jersey, that “you have two members of Congress that took your money, that asked you to campaign for them, that told you that they want to be the front line against Donald Trump, which, mind you, the House of Representatives is the front line against Donald Trump.”
“They should tell you about how they view you and how they view the office they serve, and how they view this campaign for governor,” Fulop added.
Baraka made headlines after he was arrested at a protest at an ICE detention center in Newark. Charges have since been dropped, but he is suing Alina Habba, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey and one of Trump’s personal lawyers, for malicious prosecution.
“As governor, I will help lead a national movement of other governors and state attorneys general to stop this runaway train of authoritarianism in its tracks,” Baraka, who has led one of the state’s largest cities for over a decade, wrote in an op-ed.
In terms of advertising, Trump has also been a consistent theme in Democrats’ and Republicans’ messaging. The president has appeared or been mentioned in 70% of all broadcast ads in the race, according to an analysis from AdImpact. Every one of Baraka’s, Gottheimer’s, and Sherrill’s broadcast ads also mentions Trump.
Democrats have far outspent all Republican candidates on advertising, with advertising on behalf of Democrats having accounted for 88% of all primary spending. As of last week, Gottheimer spent the most with $22.8 million, Fulop spent $17.8 million, Spiller spent $13.1 million, and Sherrill spent $11.4 million.
Combined with Republican spending in the contest, the New Jersey gubernatorial primary is already the state’s most expensive race.
Former Republican state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli, in his third run for governor, has emerged as the front-runner in the GOP primary after receiving Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
On Democrats’ likely opponent, New Jersey Democratic Party Chairman LeRoy Jones, who is backing Sherrill, said, “Jack Ciattarelli is going to be no more than what Donald Trump is. Jack really is going to be dictated by Donald Trump. He used to be a moderate Republican. Now he is 100% MAGA, and he is not turning back.”
“Our communities, our neighbors, your neighbors, are afraid of Donald Trump, and they’re afraid of what it means for him or for someone like Ciattarelli to come to New Jersey,” said Patricia Campos Medina, a longtime Democratic labor organizer in the state who is backing Sherrill in the primary.
“We got knocked down a little bit in November, and we all woke up to another nightmare that day,” Jones said, adding, “And everything that he said he was going to do, he has done.”
The candidates are using the same strategy in the hope of pulling anti-Trump Republicans and independents to their side, framing Ciattarelli as nothing more than a Trump puppet.
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“MAGA’s coming for New Jersey with Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli,” Sherill said in a campaign ad.
“If Ciattarelli wins in November, Trump will have a blank check to run wild in Jersey,” Gottheimer warned in a post about Trump deploying the National Guard to LA after riots broke out.