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Year: 2025

Trump not on ballot, but president front and center in New Jersey’s primary for governor

Trump not on ballot, but president front and center in New Jersey’s primary for governor

Today is primary day in New Jersey, one of only two states in the nation, along with Virginia, that hold elections for governor this year. And in the spotlight in the races for both the Republican and Democrat gubernatorial nominations is the nation’s most powerful and polarizing figure: President Donald Trump. In the GOP primary showdown, which for months has been a battle for Trump’s support, frontrunner Jack Ciattarelli landed the president’s endorsement a couple of weeks ago. “I’m asking you to get out and vote for a true champion for the people of your state: Jack Ciattarelli. He’s been a friend of mine, and he’s been a real success story,” Trump told supporters a week ago as he dialed into a tele-rally on the eve of the kickoff of early voting in New Jersey. NEW JERSEY PRIMARY EARLY TEST OF TRUMP’S SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT Ciattarelli told Fox News Digital after meeting with local GOP leaders at Trump National Golf Club-Philadelphia that the president’s endorsement was “a really big deal” and “The president’s doing very, very well in New Jersey.” Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, is making his third bid for governor. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 2017. Four years later, in 2021, Ciattarelli overperformed as the Republican nominee and came close to ousting the Democrat incumbent, Gov. Phil Murphy, losing by just three points. WATCH: WHAT BILL SPADEA TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL In the contest to succeed Murphy, who is term-limited, surveys suggest Ciattarelli is the frontrunner in a five-person Republican field that includes two other prominent candidates: former businessman and popular conservative talk radio host Bill Spadea and state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a lawyer who served for a decade as state Assembly GOP leader. Ciattarelli and Spadea spent months trading fire over which of them was a bigger Trump supporter. “It was certainly disappointing,” Spadea said of Trump’s endorsement of Ciattarelli. “I mean, we made no bones about this. We absolutely wanted the president’s endorsement. Unfortunately, the president endorsed a poll and not a plan.” Spadea highlighted in a Fox News Digital interview last week that “I have been a supporter of President Trump since he came down the escalator,” in reference to Trump’s announcement of his first presidential campaign in 2015. “There is no question that I am the commonsense conservative. I am the actual Republican in this primary,” Spadea said. And Spadea questioned Ciattarelli’s support for Trump, arguing that his rival “has disrespected him (Trump) for the better part of the last eight years. … We thought that that endorsement would have been better served with me.” After he won the GOP gubernatorial nomination four years ago, Ciattarelli said when asked if he was seeking the then-former president’s endorsement, “There’s only one endorsement I seek, and that’s the endorsement of the voters of New Jersey. That’s the only one that matters.” WHAT JACK CIATTARELLI TOLD FOX NEWS DIGITAL Fast-forward to 2025, and Ciattarelli said “people really appreciate what he (Trump) is doing for New Jerseyans. He’s put a temporary hold on the wind farms off the Jersey Shore. He’s beating up on the New York Democrats over congestion pricing. He supports a quadrupling of the SALT [state and local tax] deduction on our federal tax returns. Those are big deals to New Jersey, and that’s why he’s got so much great support here. And I’m honored to have his endorsement.” While he lost out on Trump’s endorsement, Spadea said there’s been a silver lining. “Our supporters are galvanized. Matter of fact, the Tuesday and Wednesday after Trump endorsed Jack, we had a surge, our two best days ever in low-dollar fundraising,” Spadea said. “So it actually has had the opposite effect – our low-dollar surge, our volunteer surge. We’re now knocking on more than 3,000 doors a week, and we’re getting an unbelievable response from the grassroots.” Spadea said “almost every Trump supporter that we’ve talked to face-to-face on the ground thinks that Donald Trump made a huge mistake” in endorsing Ciattarelli. Asked why Trump endorsed him rather than Spadea, Ciattarelli said “the president wants to win. He knows that I provide the best opportunity to win in November.” “He knows we’re going to raise the necessary money. We’ve raised more money than the other five Republican gubernatorial candidates combined.”  Ciattarelli is a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics. His fundraising has allowed him to dominate the GOP primary ad wars. But Spadea, pointing to his media career, said he would be the more electable Republican candidate in November in blue-leaning New Jersey. REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS CHAIR, POINTING TO CAMPAIGN BATTLES AHEAD, TOUTS ‘OUR POLICIES ARE BETTER’ “I built the largest audience in the state: a third Democrat, a third independent, a third Republican. So my appeal is not just that conservative base in the Republican Party. I’m the only candidate running for the Republican nomination that can pull in Democrats and independents,” he said. The Democratic Governors Association, pointing to the rush by the top two candidates to embrace Trump, has long described the 2025 Republican showdown as a “MAGA battle” and that there’s “extremism in the GOP primary.” The Democrats have their own primary battle, with six major contenders facing off for the nomination. They are Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney. The primary is one of the first ballot-box opportunities for Democrats to weigh in as the party aims to rebound after last November’s election setbacks, when Republicans won the White House, the Senate majority and successfully defended their fragile control of the House. Pundits see Tuesday’s primary as a “bellwether” for how the party should push back against Trump’s sweeping and controversial moves since returning to the White House in January. Like Murphy, who they’re aiming to succeed, the Democrat candidates have heavily criticized some of Trump’s crackdowns on

Why Trump’s constant attacks and his sniping with Elon Musk helps him and keeps the media scrambling

Why Trump’s constant attacks and his sniping with Elon Musk helps him and keeps the media scrambling

Donald Trump is relishing all this, flaming every target in sight – or trying to put out fires in Los Angeles – as a president who loves being at war.  Elon Musk, clearly missing the spotlight, is using X as a weapon, calling for his former pal’s impeachment – but deleting his tweet tying Trump to Jeffrey Epstein in what might be viewed as an apology.  Gavin Newsom is all fired up, daring Trump’s border czar to arrest him and accusing the president of inflaming the situation by dispatching the National Guard over his objections.  TRUMP BORDER CZAR RESPONDS TO NEWSOM’S ‘ARREST ME’ CHALLENGE AS CALIFORNIA RIOTS OVER ICE RAIDS The media are eagerly drinking from the Trump fire hose in the greatest, most entertaining breakup since Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were denouncing each other. But several journalists were injured covering the violent L.A. protests, even as they reported that the vast majority of demonstrators are peaceful.  And for me, it meant a crazy hour of television.  We made lots of last-minute changes on “Media Buzz,” but the biggest one involved ABC correspondent and anchor Terry Moran. I was tapping out the script on my phone during commercial breaks.  For reasons I’ll never be able to fathom, Moran posted a scathing attack on White House domestic policy chief Stephen Miller, calling him a “world-class hater.” He also put Trump in the same category.  LIBERALS, ANTI-TRUMP FIGURES BASH ABC FOR SUSPENDING TERRY MORAN OVER SOCIAL MEDIA RANT On Maria Bartiromo’s show, which airs before mine, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Moran should be suspended or fired. Shortly after we went off the air, ABC suspended Moran, saying he had violated company standards. I’ll never fathom why he blew up his career.   You can’t overcover a public meltdown like this – Trump now saying Musk had “worn thin” and he’d asked him to leave – but journalists have a high-minded justification for the low-rent sniping. The president’s entire agenda is wrapped up in the not-so-beautiful bill, including border funding, tax cuts, food stamps and trimming the Medicaid rolls.  The measure passed the House by a single vote because a number of hard-line Republicans agree with Musk that it’s a “disgusting abomination” which, at a minimum, would boost the deficit by $2.4 billion over 10 years.  But Trump is like a movie studio mogul who simultaneously moves from one sound stage to the next. And that is a challenge to journalists who race to keep up–but also boosts ratings as he constantly taking questions from the reporters and producers he also denigrates. It’s a love-hate relationship, but lately, mostly hate. BOLD MOVE TO KEEP AMERICANS SAFE FROM ‘TERRORISTS’ IS BASIS FOR US TRAVEL BAN FOR SOME AFRICAN NATIONS Trump issued a travel ban on 12 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. Big story. Trump brought Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., after saying it couldn’t be done, and the mistakenly deported Salvadoran will face charges of human trafficking of illegal migrants – months after the Supreme Court ordered his return. Trump is battling elite law firms, many of which are caving and agreeing to provide up to $125 million in free services rather than lose access to classified material that would cause an exodus of clients. Big story. Trump backed off on criticizing Vladimir Putin after that incredible Ukrainian drone strike decimated a third of the Russian fleet, thousands of miles away. Now he says he may walk away from a war in which Putin has no conceivable interest in peace. Big story. ZELENSKYY DISMISSES TRUMP’S CLAIM THAT RUSSIA WANTS PEACE, SAYS HE KNOWS PUTIN ‘MUCH BETTER’ Trump issued a wave of controversial pardons, especially one for a man who committed fraud by stealing from his employees, which came after his mother, a big-time GOP donor, paid $1 million to get face time with the president at a Mar-a-Lago fundraising dinner. Now he avoids a jail term and having to make over $4 million in restitution to his victims. Big story. Trump is freezing funds for Harvard and investigating the Harvard Law Review. Big stories. SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES Trump has ordered an investigation of Joe Biden and the undisputed coverup of his mental decline, arguing that his actions could be overturned if top aides were making the decisions. Huge story. But the coverage has been muted, in part because the press doesn’t take it seriously and Democrats don’t want to fuel any story that involves more visibility for Biden. This nonstop gusher may deflect criticism that Trump is profiting from the presidency by selling meme coins and other items that once would have prompted an uproar.  By the time you read this, the president may have made news on several other controversial subjects. It’s a strategy that helps him and, in many ways, the media that are always scrambling to keep up.