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The Man Who Isn’t There


D


onald Trump is not on the ballot in Virginia or New


Jersey this year, but his agenda is part of the growing gubernatorial debate in both states. As a result of the Department


of Government Eficiency (DOGE) agenda cutting government waste, hundreds of civil service jobs have been eliminated, many held by residents of the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern Virginia. The job loss and impact on families will almost surely help Democrat Abigail Spanberger. In New Jersey, a Public


Policy Polling (PPP) survey conducted over the summer for the Democratic Governors Association shows that voters are opposed to the president’s recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill 53%-36%. PPP found similar results


among Virginians, with 54% saying they prefer a governor who opposes the controversial measure, while 35% prefer a governor who supports it.


roots conservatives, she is expected to mobilize their support with a brass- knuckle campaign slam- ming Spanberger. “It’s totally useless in September to be predicting the winner in November,” former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, a past Republican National Committee chair- man, told Newsmax. “Winsome’s election as lieutenant governor was considered a dramatic upset. I still think she can win it.”


POLLING: The most recent survey conduct- ed by Virginia Com- monwealth University showed Spanberger lead- ing Earle-Sears by 49%- 37% among likely voters statewide.


NEW JERSEY: Jack Is Back — and Better Organized


F


our years ago, jack Ciattarelli stunned New Jersey and the


national press by nearly unseating Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy. Grossly underfinanced,


with a campaign that even supporters dubbed disor- ganized, the former state assemblyman drew an astounding 48% against Murphy in a race that took until Nov. 21 to determine. Now, as supporters say,


“Jack is back.” The 63-year- old lawyer and publisher won a crowded GOP primary with a whopping 68% of the vote. In contrast to


his bids for gov- ernor in 2017 and ’21, Ciattarelli is well organized, and in a state that provides matching funds for guber- natorial nominees, he goes into the fall campaign evenly matched against his oppo- nent.


That is Rep. Rebecca


“Mikie” Sherrill, 53, who, like, Virginia’s Spanberger, projects a middle-of-the-


road image. The onetime prosecutor


and U.S. naval officer first ran for Congress in 2018 as a supporter of the Second Amendment (she subse- quently compiled a “zero” rating from the National Rifle Association). Later, she joined the moderate Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats (from which she resigned in 2023). Sherrill is also one of 11 Democrats who voted for an end to the COVID-19 nation- al emergency dec- laration in 2023, and among the first House Dem- ocrats to publicly call for Joe Biden to step aside in ’24.


Ciattarelli has SHERRILL


begun to slam the Democrat nomi-


nee for her support from New Jersey’s powerful teach- ers union, and contrasts that with his own fierce advocacy of school choice. “Where school districts


are failing — like Newark, where 70% of students in grades 3-9 are not meeting literacy benchmarks — par-


CIATTARELLI


“Parents deserve choice. That’s why I support charter schools and vouchers for low-income families. My opponent


does not.” — Jack Ciattarelli


ents deserve choice,” says the GOP nominee. “That’s why I support charter schools and vouchers for low-income families. My opponent does not.


“She also voted no on


the new federal tax credit program that helps make private school tuition more affordable.”


POLLING: The lone survey since the primaries is a Rut- gers-Eagleton Poll showing Sherrill with a healthy 51%- 31% lead over Ciattarelli. “Early polling on the gov-


ernor’s race should serve as a baseline or a barometer of how voters are feeling in the moment — not as some crystal ball predicting the future,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Cen- ter for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers Univer sity- New Brunswick. “A lot can happen


between now and Novem- ber, and we know this gap will very likely narrow.”


SEPTEMBER 2025 | NEWSMAX 43


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