Ciattarelli launches $2 million ad blitz targeting Sherrill’s wealth in New Jersey race

FIRST ON FOX: Hours after a fiery final debate in New Jersey’s competitive and combustible 2025 gubernatorial contest, Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli took aim at Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, over her increase in wealth during her years in Congress.

In two new ads shared for the first time with Fox News on Thursday, Ciattarelli highlighted a widely criticized appearance by Sherrill on a popular radio show where she struggled to explain her wealth.

The release of the ads came a day after Ciattarelli, after being accused of contributing to tens of thousands of opioid-related deaths in New Jersey, countered that Sherrill “broke the law,” pointing to the fine she paid four years ago for failing to timely disclose stock trades, as members of Congress are required to do so under federal conflict of interest law.

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New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill, right, and Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli on stage at the start of their second and final debate October 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

In the adsCiattarelli said “as governor, I have a plan to fix our state. In Congress, the only thing Mikie Sherrill fixed was his bank account.”

The spots then use excerpts of Sherrill from her May interview on Charlamagne tha God’s popular radio show “The Breakfast Club.”

“So I think we made some money,” Sherrill said in one clip when asked about the millions of money she and her husband, a senior executive at a multinational investment bank, allegedly made from stock trading. In the other ad, she says, “I didn’t do it. I… I don’t think I did, but I should go see what that was referring to.”

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Ciattarelli, in the ads, then claims: “Come on. Who wouldn’t know if they made $7 million. New Jersey needs a governor who gets it. Mikie Sherrill doesn’t have it. I do.”

The Ciattarelli campaign told Fox News Digital it will spend $2 million to run the ads on broadcast, cable TV and streaming.

New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli answers questions from reporters following a debate October 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Paul Steinhauser-Fox News)

During Wednesday’s debate, Ciattarelli once again highlighted the $400 fine paid by Sherrill.

“I have never broken the law,” he said. “She had to pay federal fines for violating federal securities trading and reporting law.”

Sherrill, firing back, said: “It’s the same old misinformation that he continues to promote, because he knows I don’t trade individual stocks, he knows I’ve gone beyond that.”

Questions about Sherrill’s wealth were first raised by her rivals earlier this year during the Democratic primary race. But his responses in “The Breakfast Club” interview amplified the controversy, as the Ciattarelli campaign and allied Republican groups heavily criticized the four-term federal lawmaker.

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Ciattarelli’s claims have grown in recent weeks as the race between the two candidates has become increasingly bitter and personal.

Sherrill’s campaign denounced the attacks, with spokesman Sean Higgins saying his candidate had been transparent and saying Ciattarelli, who is also a multimillionaire, was not.

“Mikie does not own or trade in individual stocks, and she has gone ‘above and beyond’ by publishing the exact value of her finances relative to the dollar,” Higgins said in a statement. “And even though New Jerseyans have no idea of ​​Jack Ciattarelli’s net worth, they do know that he made millions in profits off of opioid misinformation.”

Representative Mikie Sherrill, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for New Jersey, answers questions from reporters following a debate October 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Paul Steinhauser-Fox News)

Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before entering politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, is making his third consecutive campaign for governor of New Jersey. And four years ago, he gained national attention when he was about to upset Murphy.

It was during the 2021 campaign that Ciattarelli’s ties to opioid manufacturers first surfaced. Ciattarelli sold his company, which published content promoting the use of opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain, in 2017.

“You’re trying to distract from the fact that you killed tens of thousands of people by publishing your disinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill accused. “I think our children deserve better. I think the people you became dependent on and died from deserve better than you.”

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

“Shame on you,” Ciattarelli added.

Sherrill responded, “Shame on you, sir.”

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

And in a post-debate press conference, he claimed that Sherrill’s attack was “a desperate tactic of a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate.”

Sherrill, who was asked after the debate if she had any evidence directly linking Ciattarelli to the opioid-related deaths, told reporters: “I guess he hasn’t really said anything about it. I think there’s a lot we don’t know. I think he continues to not be very transparent about it.”

The two candidates also fought over the inappropriate disclosure of Sherrill’s military records and why she was not allowed to attend her 1994 Naval Academy graduation, as well as her support for President Donald Trump. And they clashed over key issues, including New Jersey’s sky-high energy costs, property taxes, immigration and the ongoing federal government shutdown.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold governor contest the year following a presidential election, meaning races traditionally attract outsized national attention.

And this year’s election showdowns are seen as crucial early tests of Trump’s popularity and his second-term agenda, and are seen as key barometers ahead of next year’s midterm elections for the U.S. House and Senate.

The winner of next month’s election in New Jersey will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

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While Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections in blue-leaning New Jersey, Republicans are highly competitive in gubernatorial elections, winning five of the last ten elections.

And in the race to 2025, political history favors both parties.

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