GOP gubernatorial candidates embrace Trump MAGA tactics for 2025 races

New Jersey’s Jack Ciattarelli and Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears are the only GOP gubernatorial candidates running in the offseason, and both are increasingly adopting President Donald Trump’s MAGA campaign tactics in the final throes of the 2025 cycle, Fox News Digital has found.

Election Day is three weeks away, on November 4, and both gubernatorial candidates will hold rallies in their respective states, joining debates against their Democratic opponents and championing platforms that align with Trump’s vision of “making America great again” for the nation.

Fox News Digital examined recent public events for both candidates as the race winds down and found that they have increasingly embraced Trump’s agenda and the president’s campaign tactics.

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Republican Jack Ciattarelli answers questions during the gubernatorial debate with Democratic opponent Mikie Sherrill, September 21, 2025, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. (Noah K. Murray/Associated Press)

Jack Ciattarelli

Ciattarelli is making his third bid for governor of the Garden State, buoyed by Trump’s gains with New Jersey voters in the 2024 federal election.

New Jersey backed former Vice President Kamala Harris for president nearly a year ago, but post-election data shows Trump and the GOP have gained ground — flipping five counties and narrowing his 2020 loss by 16 points to six in 2024.

The 2024 elections have invigorated the state’s Republicans to move it red in 2025.

Trump endorsed Ciattarelli earlier in 2025, saying the self-proclaimed “Jersey Guy” went ALL IN” on MAGA “and is now 100% (MORE!)”

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Ciattarelli, who criticized Trump during the 2016 election, has since aligned himself with Trump’s policies, including ending state protections for illegal immigrants, creating a voter ID system and cutting spending and taxes in a state known for sky-high real estate costs.

Democrat Mikie Sherrill, left, and Republican Jack Ciattarelli during a debate on the gubernatorial race October 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Rutgers University/WABC-TV)

Ciattarelli is facing Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill at the polls, who his campaign has compared to Trump challenger Harris, calling Sherrill a continuation of the current administration of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

The Republican candidate held a Trump-style rally in the South Jersey resort town of Wildwood on Oct. 10, returning to the city where Trump held a massive 2024 rally and celebrated the state’s growing support for conservatives.

Dubbed “America First – Return to the Wildwoods Rally,” the event attracted participation from MAGA influencers such as Jack Posobiec.

Influencer and Trump ally Benny Johnson was scheduled to attend the rally before receiving a letter threatening him with “extermination.” The Justice Department has since charged an individual for the threats, and Johnson released a video message expressing regret for missing the rally.

Ciattarelli adopted a more confrontational tone in the final stretch of the campaign, including threatening to sue Sherrill for defamation for allegedly profiting from the opioid crisis.

Trump filed his own defamation suit in the 2024 cycle against ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos for falsely claiming that Trump was “responsible for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case. The defamation suit was dismissed after ABC agreed to a $15 million settlement.

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Ciattarelli’s schedule mirrors Trump’s 2024 blitz, with seven events scheduled between Wednesday and Oct. 23, including rallies, town halls and dinners.

Trump has “been right in everything he does,” Ciattarelli said while praising the president in remarks to the New York Post earlier in October.

“He has secured the border and the economy, inflation is much lower than it was when Joe Biden was in the White House,” he said. “But mostly because of what he did specifically in New Jersey: temporarily suspending wind farms, going after New York Democrats for their congestion pricing plan, and quadrupling the SALT deduction.”

Winsome Earle-Sears celebrates his victory in the lieutenant governor’s race by introducing Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin at an election night event in Chantilly, Virginia, November 3, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The attractive Earle-Sears

Virginia’s Republican lieutenant governor is seeking the state’s top leadership post as Gov. Glenn Youngkin is term-limited. The election pits the firebrand Republican against former Rep. Abigail Spanberger as Democrats seek to flip the state.

Unlike Ciattarelli, Trump has yet to endorse Earle-Sears, but that hasn’t stopped the Republican nominee from celebrating the president’s policies and ways.

Earle-Sears participated in a debate against Spanberger on Oct. 9, which was highlighted by the Republican nominee repeatedly interrupting and staring at his opponent on stage — a political move that echoes Trump’s aggressive debate tactics during the 2016, 2020 and 2024 election cycles.

Trump’s mic during the 2024 debates against then-President Joe Biden — before Biden withdrew from the race — and Harris were muted to avoid interruptions and fighting on the debate stage.

Earle-Sears repeatedly interrupted Spanberger during the debate and asked him about the conviction of Jay Jones, a Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general implicated in a recently uncovered text scandal in which he contemplated the murder of a top state Republican.

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“But really, what I want to ask with this first question is: Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and tell him you have to quit the race?” » Earle-Sears asked during the debate while looking at his opponent. Spanberger avoided answering whether she still supports Jones.

Moderators repeatedly asked Earle-Sears not to talk about Spanberger in the debate, which resulted in the moderators cutting off the candidates’ microphones in the final minutes of the debate.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, left, is running against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, right, in the state’s 2025 gubernatorial race. (Kristen Zeis/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The Virginia candidate also celebrated key MAGA policies, including ending in-state safe-haven immigration policies, a “tax ax” plan that would end the auto tax and tipped income tax on state wages, and criticism of socialism.

Earle-Sears, a native of Jamaica, served in the Marine Corps. She entered politics in 2001, when she successfully ran for the Virginia House of Delegates.

She has previously criticized Trump, notably in 2022, when she suggested the Republican Party should “move away” from him.

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Earle-Sears’ campaign said it would be “honored” to gain Trump’s support, celebrating his policies since his second inauguration.

“We would be honored to have the support of President Trump,” the Earle-Sears campaign told local Washington media in August. “He’s getting real results for working Americans: lower taxes, a booming economy, secure borders, and a courageous defense of our freedoms. Winsome Earle-Sears shares the same fighting spirit. She’s a proven Marine, conservative, and leader ready to finish the job here in Virginia. With President Trump’s support, we will keep the Governor’s Mansion and end the cold the extreme left.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on a possible upcoming approval, but did not immediately receive a response.