New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli received a surprise visit from his “biggest supporter” before Tuesday’s big election.

Ciattarelli’s son Jake, who is an Army Officer stationed in Kuwait, surprised him while rallying with voters during a campaign event at Murph’s Tavern in the northern part of the Garden State.

“You don’t know what I’m going to say right now, but your biggest supporter who serves his country just came over overnight to serve you,” Passaic County Republican Chairman Peter Murphy said.

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Thunderous cheers and chants of “USA” erupted in the room as the GOP hopeful embraced his son.

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Seemingly caught off guard, Ciattarelli made a few jokes about his son’s return.

“Now let me guess, you called the president yesterday. He sent Air Force One over to Kuwait and picked up Jack,” Ciattarelli joked. “And if I know the young man, he’ll probably be on a plane this afternoon back to Kuwait to defend our country.”

“What he probably forgot to do because he’s been so busy defending our nation, he probably forgot to get in his vote-by-mail ballot. He’s here to vote,” Ciattarelli said.

Jake later told reporters that he planned to remain in the US through Thursday to support his father. He has been serving in the Army as a captain since late 2023.

Ciattarelli has periodically mentioned his son’s service, posting a picture of him proudly pointing to a “New Jersey Ave” sign in the Middle East back in April.

Ciattarelli is in a dead heat against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) heading into Tuesday’s gubernatorial election.

The competitive race is considered a toss up.

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Both candidates were out for their final push on Monday. Sherrill started the day at an event hosted by the county’s Democratic committee in the all-important Morris County, where each candidate hopes to win over large numbers of suburban voters. She plans to end the day in her hometown of Montclair with an election-eve rally. Ciattarelli is in Totowa and Neptune City on the Jersey Shore, where he’s expected to do well. He plans to head to Raritan in Somerset County, the town where he grew up.

On average, polls give Sherrill a 5-point lead going into Tuesday, and registered Democrats have a sizable 266,000-vote lead in early in-person voting and vote-by-mail ballots. Early in-person voting has surged in the state this year to more than 600,000, tripling the number from the 2021 gubernatorial race.

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But Ciattarelli maintains that his own internal polling puts the race at a dead heat. And Republican strongholds like Toms River, Lakewood and Jackson have seen some of the highest totals for early in-person voting — an indication that Ciattarelli’s base is just as fired up.

The question now is whether Democrats in urban strongholds will turnout for Sherrill, or if Ciattarelli can overcome her likely advantage in early votes. Uncertainty also hangs over Passaic County, where the state GOP asked the federal Department of Justice to send federal monitors to oversee the handling and counting of mail-in ballots over concerns of fraud.

The justice department said it will not only monitor vote-by-mail tallies, but also plans to station agents at polling sites in the county, where immigrants make up a large percentage of the population. New Jersey Democrats have called the Trump administration’s plan an attempt at voter intimidation and suppression.

 

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