In the 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election, Republican Jack Ciattarelli received 1,255,185 votes to Democrat Phil Murphy’s 1,339,471. This close call for Murphy shocked the New Jersey political establishment. Polls had been showing Murphy to be as much as 20 points ahead in a state that then had about a million more registered Democrats than Republicans. In the end, the difference was not even close to a million—it was about 84,000 votes. Part of the reason for this close election for an incumbent was that Second Amendment advocates had shown up to vote against a candidate who blamed them and American freedom for crime.
Now Ciattarelli is facing off against another anti-Second Amendment candidate, Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, and, at the time we’re writing this, the polls are again showing Ciattarelli to be well behind—but are these polls accurate?
Compared to August 2021, or about three months before Murphy won reelection, there are now 167,000 more registered Republican voters in the state (an 11% increase), while the number of Democrats has dropped by about 47,000 (or about 2%), according to state data.
Still, there are about 860,000 more Democrats registered, but a lot of national data shows that an increasing number of Democrats own guns and appreciate our right to keep and bear arms. Since the NRA-backed Bruen decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, which confirmed that our Second Amendment rights do indeed extend outside our homes, the number of concealed-carry permit applications in New Jersey increased by roughly 5,000%.
Perhaps for this reason, Sherrill has not been vociferously running as a gun-control candidate, even though that is precisely what she is. Sherrill has been endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, Moms Demand Action, the Giffords PAC and the Brady PAC. Sherrill has voiced her hatred for this civil right many times before.
“Allowing untrained and unchecked individuals to carry concealed firearms in New Jersey is unconscionable,” said Sherrill in 2017, in spite of the fact that New Jersey carry permits are only issued to those who have received training and cleared a background check.
As she is for infringing on citizens’ Second Amendment rights at every opportunity, Sherrill has received a well-deserved “F” from the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF). Ciattarelli, in contrast, has a “B+” rating from the NRA-PVF.
The Second Amendment is a civil-rights issue that is motivating a growing number of people in the state. New Jersey gun owners must contend with onerous gun-control laws and an often-accusatory state government. New Jersey gun-control regulations include so-called “assault weapons” prohibitions, magazine-capacity limitations, a one-gun-a-month limit on the purchasing of pistols, felony penalties for nearly all firearm infractions and other Draconian restrictions on this right.
Ciattarelli’s policy positions on the Second Amendment have changed over the years. In 2021, he said he preferred an incremental approach in the struggle for citizens to lawfully carry concealed—a right that, before Bruen, was functionally banned for everyday citizens. But, after Bruen, Ciattarelli said that “people have a right, again, to defend themselves” and that “they have a right to bear arms.”
Sherrill is a gun-ban extremist who hides behind her past military credentials to try to fool gun owners into mistakenly supporting her.
“Any and all forms of profiling are wrong, and any law-abiding citizen who [has] applied for [a] gun permit should get their gun permit,” said Ciattarelli. “One thing I will do is get the state police to work in closer partnership with our local police departments in accelerating the gun-permit application process. In many cases, we know it’s taking too long.”
In contrast, in a 2019 opinion article that Sherrill co-authored, she said that an “assault-weapons ban is an obvious place to start,” and she expressed support for “universal” background checks.
Scott Bach, the executive director of NRA state affiliate Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, noted that Ciattarelli has “evolved significantly on the Second Amendment.”
“Despite occasional differences in the past, he has always taken a thoughtful approach on Second Amendment issues and has worked to preserve rather than harm gun rights,” said Bach. “In contrast, Sherrill is a gun-ban extremist who hides behind her past military credentials to try to fool gun owners into mistakenly supporting her. She is a real threat to the Second Amendment.”
Joe LoPorto, the director of legal operations of New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate (NJFOS), spoke on behalf of the organization. NJFOS gave Ciattarelli an “A” rating and LoPorto said that Ciattarelli has a successful track record when it comes to winning elections as well as creating “coattails” in critical assembly races.
“In the June 10 primary, GOP voter turnout was 34% higher than it was in the last gubernatorial election. GOP voter rolls have been steadily growing every month, thanks in part to the hard work of our friend [conservative activist] Scott Presler,” said LoPorto. “Polls today are showing Sherrill ahead by 5 points, and we know those polls are biased. In 2021, those same polls had Phil Murphy ahead by 20 points, and Jack lost by just 84,000 votes. We are optimistic and encouraging our members and gun owners across the state to make their voices heard this year.”
This November 4 election may serve as a bellwether for how the 2026 midterms will go for gun owners across the U.S. If it is hard to believe that New Jersey is close, and that a majority in the state might even vote for their Second Amendment freedom, then that’s a good thing, as the trends show across the nation that more voters in every demographic are choosing to exercise this critical constitutional right.
