Sherrill and Ciatarelli clash in the final New Jersey gubernatorial debate

New Brunswick, New Jersey – With less than one month until Election Day in New Jersey’s competitive and heated race for governor, Democratic Rep. Mickey Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli clashed over Sherrill’s military record, Ciattarelli’s business career, and support for President Donald Trump during their second and final debate.

New Jersey’s showdown in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, which has become increasingly bitter in recent weeks, was highlighted in Wednesday’s intense debate.

In one heated exchange, Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of profiting from the opioid crisis, claiming he had “killed tens of thousands of people” through his ties to drug industry-backed training materials.

Ciattarelli responded by saying Sherrill “broke the law,” as he pointed to the fine she paid four years ago for not disclosing stock trades in a timely manner, which members of Congress are required to do under federal conflict of interest law.

Trump looms over 2025 election

New Jersey and Virginia are the only states that retain it State gubernatorial contests The year follows a presidential election, which means the races traditionally attract significant national attention.

The showdowns at the ballot box this year are seen as critical early tests of Trump’s popularity and his second-term agenda, and are considered key gauges ahead of next year’s House and Senate midterm elections.

The two candidates traded accusations on key issues, including New Jersey’s high energy costs, property taxes, immigration and the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Head here for the latest FOX NEWS reports on the 2025 elections

While Trump was not on the ballot, Trump played a large role in the debate.

Ciattarelli, who won the Republican nomination earlier this year after receiving Trump’s endorsement, was asked why he disagreed with the president.

“I disagree with the president about the Imperial Wind Farm on Long Island,” the Republican nominee responded.

Moments later, Sherrill accused her GOP rival of “showing no signs of standing up to this president. In fact, the president himself has described Jack as 100% MAGA, and he has shown every sign of being one.”

“In times of need, it’s best to have a relationship with whoever occupies the White House, and I will do that,” Ciattarelli responded.

Asked to rate the president’s performance so far during his second term, Chiattarelli said: “I would definitely give the president an A. I think he’s right about everything he does.”

“I think this tells us everything we need to know about who supports Jack Ciattarelli. I give him an F right now,” Cheryl replied, noting the high cost of living in New Jersey.

Ciattarelli, a former state legislator and certified public accountant who founded a medical publishing company before entering politics and winning election as a state legislator, is making his third consecutive run for governor of New Jersey. Four years ago, he attracted national attention when he came close to upsetting Murphy.

Blue state Republican rips Democratic rival for blaming ‘everything on Trump’

During the 2021 campaign, Ciattarelli’s relationship with opioid manufacturers first came to light. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.

“You are trying to distract from the fact that you have killed tens of thousands of people by printing your disinformation and propaganda,” Sherrill accused. “I think our kids deserve better. I think the people you got addicted to and died deserve better than you.”

“As far as everything she just said about my career, where I support my family, that’s a lie. I’m proud of my career,” Ciattarelli responded.

“Shame on you,” Ciattarelli added.

“Shame on you, sir,” Cheryl responded.

Cittarelli then blamed the fentanyl crisis on former President Joe Biden’s “open borders” policies.

In a press conference after the debate, he claimed that Sherrill’s attack was “a desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate.”

Sherrill was asked after the discussion if she had evidence directly linking Ciattarelli to opioid deaths, telling reporters, “I think he hasn’t really expressed anything about it. I think there’s a lot that we don’t know. And I think he’s still not very transparent about it.”

During the debate, Ciattarelli responded to Sherrill, saying, “I was able to walk into my college graduation,” referring to the controversy surrounding Sherrill’s military records.

The race was shaken two weeks ago after a New Jersey Globe report revealed that Sherrill’s military records indicated the U.S. Naval Academy barred her from participating in its 1994 graduation ceremony amid a cheating scandal.

Sherrill claimed Chiattarelli was on a “witch hunt” over her improperly released military records, raising questions about her possible involvement in the cheating scandal that rocked the U.S. Naval Academy three decades ago.

Chiattarelli and his campaign have repeatedly called for Sherrill, who worked as a helicopter pilot during her military career after graduating from the Naval Academy, to release her military records to explain why she was barred from attending her graduation ceremony.

But a separate report from CBS News revealed that the National Personnel Records Center, a branch of the National Archives and Records Administration, mistakenly released Cheryl’s improperly redacted military personnel files, which included private information such as her Social Security number, to a Ciattarelli ally.

The National Archives, in a letter two weeks ago, apologized to Sherrill, saying the inappropriate release was due to an error made by a government employee regarding a request for legal records.

After the records breach, Sherrill’s campaign sent cease-and-desist letters to the National Archives and to Ciattarelli’s campaign, as well as to Russell and Nicholas DiGregorio, whom Sherrill’s team described as a “campaign agent working at the direction of” Russell.

She also launched Cheryl’s campaign Digital advertising Target Ciattarelli.

“They broke the law by attacking a veteran,” the scene’s narrator charged.

Cheryl was asked why she didn’t attend her graduation ceremony, and she said in the discussion: “I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I couldn’t attend the graduation ceremony because I came from an incredibly responsible place. But I went on to graduate. I was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy.”

She reiterated that she did not want to give Chiattarelli and his campaign access to the records of her Naval Academy classmates.

“Why does my opponent still not take responsibility for releasing those records? He is under federal investigation, as one of his team members, someone who was vetted to be lieutenant governor, actually had access to those records. He said he was shocked and disgusted, and yet he distributed them to reporters when asked about it, and acted as if he had no idea what his campaign was doing.”

“Either he’s really incompetent or he’s lying,” she said.

Ciattarelli quickly responded and called on Cheryl to release her records.

“We know for a fact that she was not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. We know for a fact that her name was not on the graduation training program. She says it was because she did not hand it out to her classmates. This is the honor code at West Point. This is not the honor code at the Naval Academy. You will not be punished for that. I think she was punished for something else,” he said.

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While Democrats have long dominated federal and state elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are fiercely competitive in gubernatorial contests, winning five of the past 10 elections.

In the 2025 race, political history favors both parties.

The party that wins the White House tends to lose the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia the following year, which favors the Democrats. But New Jersey Democrats are also trying to buck history, as it has been more than six decades since one party won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the Garden State.