NORTH BERGEN, New Jersey — Gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli spent Sunday in northern Hudson County, the deepest blue county in the state, picking up endorsements from Democrats and marching in the Hispanic State Parade of New Jersey.
Ciattarelli stopped by an Italian deli, Cuomo & Sons Imported Italian Delicacies, in North Bergen and made fresh mozzarella with chef and owner Antonio, a popular social media personality in the area. There, he received endorsements from town commissioner Allen Pascual, who recently switched to the Republican party, and former Mayor Sal Vega of neighboring West New York.
Then, Ciattarelli marched down Bergenline Avenue, the main commercial district of North Hudson County, known for blocks and blocks of Latin American restaurants, shops, bakeries, and social gathering places. Bergenline connects the geographically tiny, but densely populated, municipalities of North Bergen, West New York, Guttenberg, and Union City, and functionally it is difficult to tell while walking down the avenue where one town ends and the other begins.
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Ciattarelli’s presence in the county, described by the New Jersey Globe as “the most solidly Democratic county in New Jersey history,” is a testament to the state of the gubernatorial race. Republicans are making an aggressive play for votes in traditionally working class, Hispanic-dominated machine politics strongholds.
“Jack has momentum,” Mayor Carlos Rendo of Woodcliff Lake, who grew up in Union City, told Breitbart News on Sunday. Rendo attended the events on Sunday with Ciattarelli.
“We are seeing traditional democratic areas like Hudson County buying into Jack’s message — lower taxes, affordability, and public safety appealing to these urban communities. Jack is going to turn New Jersey Red!” he predicted.
North Hudson County is a region dominated by Democratic political machines built in the late 1800s and early 1900s by embracing Ellis Island immigrants, assimilating them through public school initiatives, government jobs, and often graft. Particularly after the tenure of late Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, the Republican Party all but gave up on Hudson County — even when it became home to the largest community of Cuban refugees in the country after Florida following the 1959 coup by murderous dictator Fidel Castro. As a result, nearly every politician in power in North Hudson is a Democrat, or at least a Democrat-friendly independent — but Democrats here have had to campaign on issues incompatible with their national platform, such as opposition to socialism in Latin America and military intervention to overthrow the communist regime in Cuba.
The Ciattarelli campaign has focused on emphasizing the candidate’s hometown New Jersey appeal, in stark contrast to Democratic candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a Virginia native with far-left progressive values that appeal more to wealthy, gentrified parts of the state with high numbers of former New Yorkers.
Speaking to Breitbart News, Kennith Gonzalez, the executive director of New Jersey Republican State Committee, emphasized that, rather than retreating from traditionally blue areas, the Ciattarelli campaign “has been to every single Hispanic Cultural Parade in the entire state.”
“While Mikie Sherrill talks in platitudes and tells unnecessarily long stories — Jack is the only candidate talking to the Hispanic Community about his specific policy points to lower property taxes & electricity bills, improve public school education, and keep our neighborhoods safe,” Gonzalez argued.
“Hudson County specifically made national news last year after President Trump scored such huge gains among the Hispanic Community in towns like Union City, West New York, North Bergen, and Kearny,” he told Breitbart News. “This year, we are building on those gains and looking to win some of these key towns outright.”
“Jack has made it a priority to dedicate time and resources into Hispanic areas of our state — to talk to voters about his plans to deliver change for our state,” he emphasized.
Sherrill also marched in the Hispanic parade, alongside Union City Mayor and State Senator Brian Stack, largely considered the most powerful politician in the county. What would typically be a deal-sealing endorsement in the state has reduced influence this year for Sherrill, however, given the context in which Stack offered it: the Democratic primary campaign of one of his most belligerent rivals, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop. Fulop, a far-left Goldman Sachs alum known for his aggressive gentrification of Jersey City — more akin to Union City than, say, Montclair before his tenure — has bitterly feuded with Stack for years, accusing him of suffering from “paranoia” and potentially a “more significant mental illness” for responding to attacks by a local vlogger. When Fulop announced he would run for governor, the most powerful people in his own county were energized against him.
“He basically burned the whole house down,” an anonymous source said of Fulop at the time, referring to his relationship with the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO), which Stack leads. “It’s bonkers that he can think he tore the organization down and the same day or the day after Hudson is strongly shifting their support he sends ambassadors and messengers… that he hopes we can get back on the same page and have a dialogue.”
The Stack-Fulop feud was a gift that fell into Sherrill’s lap, as Stack chose her as the most formidable candidate to endorse against Fulop — but not before initially endorsing Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s unsuccessful campaign. Sherrill carried Hudson County (Fulop could not even win Jersey City), but the results spoke much more to the local disgust with Fulop than to any organic liking Hudson County voters had taken to Sherrill, Stack’s second choice.
Sherrill has struggled in the past week as her polling slid and a new scandal — the revelation that she was blocked from walking with her graduating class at the United States Naval Academy due to alleged ties to a cheating scandal. She also infuriated both conservative and liberal voters by voting to condemn the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, then disparaging Kirk in a statement after voting.
A poll published by Emerson College, PIX11, and The Hill conducted September 22 through 23 found that both Ciattarelli and Sherrill were polling at 43 percent support; 11 percent of respondents said they were undecided. More Republicans than Democrats have returned early voting ballots in the election as of this weekend, an alarming development for Democrats.
Ciattarelli narrowly lost the 2021 gubernatorial election to incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy. Speaking to Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle this week, Early Vote Action’s Scott Presler noted that the math is in favor of the Republican — if only Republicans vote.
“Do you know, Matt, how many Republicans stayed home in 2021, the year after 2020? 600,000,” Presler, who has been campaigning vigorously in New Jersey, observed. “The election was decided by 84,000 votes. Two hundred and fifty thousand gun owners in New Jersey are not registered to vote. If our beautiful gun community or Second Amendment advocates registered and mobilized and voted, New Jersey would be a Republican state — would be a red state.”
