Meet the 10 candidates looking to be the next New Jersey governor

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is term-limited from running for reelection next year, leaving the race to replace him wide open. And the competition is already heating up, as six Democrats and four Republicans have already thrown their hats in the ring for the job.

The New Jersey governor’s race could be particularly competitive, as the 2024 presidential election showed a narrowing gap between Democrats and Republicans in the once true-blue state, with Vice President Kamala Harris winning the state by Democrats’ smallest margin in decades.

As of Dec. 1, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by more than 900,000 in New Jersey, a gap that’s 57,857 votes smaller than in the previous year. President-elect Donald Trump had an impressive showing in the Garden State in the 2024 presidential election, falling nearly 6 percentage points behind Harris. To put that in perspective, President Joe Biden carried the state by 16 points in 2020.

Murphy — whose eight years in office end in 2025 — faced stiff competition when he ran in 2021, defeating his Republican challenger by only about 3 percentage points. While that narrow win marked a stark difference from his resounding 14-point lead in 2017, Murphy became the state’s first Democratic governor to win reelection since 1977.

The general election will take place on Nov. 4, 2025. The state’s primary is scheduled for June 3, 2025, but Murphy and legislative leaders have said they support moving the date to June 10 to accommodate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

Here’s who is running, so far.

Ras Baraka, 55, who has been the mayor of Newark since 2014, is calling for unity and equity in a bid to “reimagine” New Jersey. He previously served on the city council and worked as a high school principal.

In his campaign literature, Baraka promises to double New Jersey’s housing production within two years and create transit-oriented development. He also said he wants to provide grants for college students to pay for living costs to encourage them to stay in New Jersey, and provide loan relief programs for those who remain in the state after graduation.

Baraka has said he wants to reduce taxes for households making $90,000 per year or less, add a 2% tax increase for those making more than $10 million, and reverse corporate tax cuts enacted by former Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

He also says in his campaign materials that he wants to expand Medicaid coverage to include social aspects of health, like housing, transportation, and childcare, and offer a public state-backed insurance option.

Baraka’s campaign materials said that he would begin the state budget process six weeks earlier to accommodate public hearings, and that his administration would “deconstruct the state budget and reassemble with equity as our north star” by “judging every decision as either a step towards equity or a step towards inequity.”

In March, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission filed a complaint against Baraka and his 2022 city council slate that said their joint fundraising committee failed to disclose more than $700,000 in contributions and more than $700,000 in expenditures. Baraka called the violation of campaign rules “unacceptable” and blamed an outside firm that his campaign said “dropped the ball.” All of the reports were later filed in April, according to his campaign.

Baraka was not available for an interview, a spokesperson said.

Steven Fulop, 47, has been the mayor of Jersey City since 2014. He was previously a member of the city council and had a career in finance. He also served in the Marine Corps, which he said he was inspired to join after seeing the first plane strike the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

After being floated as a gubernatorial candidate in 2017, Fulop was the first candidate to announce that he was running for governor last year — two years before the primary. He’s running in part on his accomplishments transforming Jersey City as mayor.

“Today, Jersey City is one of the best Renaissance stories in the country,” he said. “It’s the economic backbone of New Jersey. We actually built more housing than most of the boroughs of New York City. We’ve led on issues from the minimum wage to paid sick leave.”

But he’s also presenting himself as a nonestablishment political outsider who wants to reform a government that he said is led by “political bosses” who created ”a corruption tax that regular residents pay.”

Fulop has a complicated relationship with his local Hudson County Democratic organization, which rescinded an endorsement of the Jersey City mayor after its leadership changed. Fulop defied the local party by backtracking his endorsement of first lady Tammy Murphy and instead supporting Sen. Andy Kim earlier this year; by speaking out against the “county line”; and by deciding to put his own slate of candidates forward in the primaries. He also called the Democratic Party in the state “lazy” and “ineffective” after Harris’ loss.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, 49, whose North Jersey district includes parts of Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex Counties, presents himself as a politician willing to reach across the aisle, and is running on a “lower taxes, lower costs” platform.

Gottheimer flipped his district blue by defeating a seven-term Republican incumbent in 2017. He cochairs the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus with U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.).

Gottheimer said he shares Democratic values with other candidates in the race, including reproductive freedom, gun safety, and protecting air and water, but he said he has differentiated himself by focusing on lowering the cost of living, advocating for businesses to bring jobs to the state, and cutting “wasteful spending.”

“Other states have done it successfully, and, you know, we need a bit of a reboot here in Jersey,” he said.

He said New Jersey can also address affordability by helping people with childcare and health-care costs, and lowering utility bills “by taking a more all-of-the-above energy approach.”

Gottheimer won his district by more than 11 percentage points this year, while Harris carried the district by under 2 percentage points.

U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, 52, is a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor. In 2019, she flipped her formerly longtime Republican North Jersey district, which includes parts of Essex, Morris, and Passaic Counties.

Sherrill said she’s already started working on key issues in Congress. She touted legislative efforts to increase the state and local tax deduction cap, limit how much families pay for childcare, fund flood projects, and address mental health issues in schools. She recently introduced a bill that would make it easier for small grocers to set up shop.

As governor, she also would seek to create more housing in the state that falls between affordable and luxury.

“When you look at my district alone, and the type of work I’ve done and the people I’ve brought together to get it accomplished, I think it’s that constant focus on actual results that is going to set me and my candidacy apart,” she said.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking named her New Jersey’s most effective House member in 2023.

She was the first House Democrat in New Jersey or Pennsylvania to call for Biden to step down from the presidential race.

Sean Spiller, 49, is the president of the New Jersey Education Association, a role he took on in 2021 while serving his one term as the mayor of Montclair. Before taking the helm as leader of the state’s public school teachers union, he was a teacher and council member in Montclair.

Spiller said he believes that his familiarity with the education system would be advantageous in face of Trump’s threats to dismantle the Department of Education, and that as a union leader, he understands when to fight.

“I know that I’m ready on a lot of those fronts to be able to structure our state in a way that we can stand up for women’s health-care rights, that we can stand up to push back in the educational space when needed, that we can stand up to make sure that we protect every single resident and not waste precious state dollars on ridiculous immigration policies, or other pieces that the president may try to do,” he said.

He said he will also be focused on getting government “out of the way” when it’s slowing people down and costing them more while also ensuring that it’s there to support residents when needed.

Spiller’s term as Montclair’s mayor saw controversy. In May, the town reached a $1.25 million settlement with its chief financial officer after she sued the town and its manager, alleging that she faced a hostile and retaliatory work environment, in part because of Spiller.

In a statement to The Inquirer, Spiller said he places “a high value on making sure everyone feels supported and respected in their work environment, as a union leader and an elected official.”

“Where issues arise — especially between two employees — I am a believer in due process and working out the best solution possible,” he said. “The settlement is a reflection of that process.”

Stephen Sweeney, 65, served in the state Senate from 2002 to 2022. He was the state Senate president from 2010 to 2022 — the longest tenure in New Jersey history — before losing his reelection bid to Republican Edward Durr, a political newcomer. Sweeney’s loss was a blow to the South Jersey Democratic establishment.

As the second-most powerful elected official in New Jersey, Sweeney, a former ironworker, put his stamp on most major legislative accomplishments during his decade as the state Senate’s leader. He spent years building political clout for South Jersey along with his childhood friend George E. Norcross III, a New Jersey power broker who was indicted this year in a racketeering and extortion case.

In his campaign video, Sweeney touts legislative accomplishments including the establishment of a higher minimum wage, marriage equality, and paid family leave. He said there’s more to be done like making it easier to buy a home, raise a family, and retire in New Jersey. He said the state needs a tax system that works better for families and retirees rather than big corporations.

He had ambitions for the role of governor leading up to 2017, but did not run.

Sweeney did not respond to requests for an interview.

New Jersey State Sen. Jon Bramnick, 71, a staunch critic of Trump, is the state’s former Assembly Republican leader. He said he has never voted for Trump, and didn’t vote for either of the presidential candidates this year.

Bramnick categorized himself as “very conservative” on fiscal issues, crime, and overdevelopment, but he’s also an abortion-rights advocate.

He calls himself a traditional Republican, like Ronald Reagan, the George Bushes, and Dwight Eisenhower. He said he worked for Richard Nixon in elementary school. However, he resisted the “anti-Trump” label.

“He’s the president, and if President Trump does something I agree with, you know, I’ll agree with it 100%,” he said. “If it’s something I disagree with, you know, I’ll disagree with it. I think that’s what voters want. They want someone who’s going to speak for New Jersey. And if it benefits New Jersey, you know, then I’m going to be with the president.”

On the side, he’s a comedian who markets himself as the “Funniest Lawyer in New Jersey.”

Jack Ciattarelli, 62, a former member of the state Assembly, lost the 2021 gubernatorial race to Murphy by about 3 percentage points, an outcome that was closer than expected. Ciattarelli also ran unsuccessfully in the 2017 Republican primary for governor. He announced that he would run again in 2025 during the same speech in which he publicly conceded his loss in the 2021 race.

Ciattarelli tried to reach moderates without losing Trump supporters in 2021. He has expressed mixed public opinions on Trump and was known as a moderate in Trenton.

When he announced his campaign in April, Ciattarelli said he wants to keep sanctuary cities out of New Jersey, create term limits, cut spending, and lower property taxes and business taxes. He said he will shrink the state government’s size to pay for the tax cuts.

Ciattarelli has said he wants to overhaul the public school system and adopt a new school funding formula that “treats suburban taxpayers fairly while promoting educational savings accounts, vouchers, and school choice to free kids from failing schools.”

Ciattarelli was not available for an interview, according to a spokesperson.

Edward Durr, 61, has been a commercial truck driver for three decades and successfully ousted Sweeney in 2021. After that surprise upset, Durr lost his seat after one term to Democrat John Burzichelli.

Durr has come under fire for several inflammatory social media posts, including an Islamophobic tweet in 2019 that surfaced hours after his election and for which he later apologized.

He said he’s most proud of his office’s constituent services during his stint in the state Senate.

Durr, of Gloucester County, said there’s a clear difference between him and the other Republican candidates because he’s “the everyday citizen” who best understands what working-class residents face.

He said that while other candidates want to be the answer to constituents’ problems, he just wants to remove the problem.

“You don’t need the government to help you,” he said. “You just need the government to get out of your way. And that’s what I want to do, is get the government out of the way of the people, let the people and businesses succeed and thrive on their own.”

Durr said affordability will be the biggest issue in the race. He supports school choice and believes the education system needs to be revamped and have less of a burden on property taxes.

Bill Spadea, 55, is a conservative radio host who presents himself as a pro-Trump political outsider.

“The insider establishment power brokers, they don’t like me,” he says in a video on his campaign website. “Why? Because I’m an outsider they can’t control, and because I’m unapologetically conservative, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-Trump.”

But Spadea is no stranger to New Jersey politics. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2004, and in 2012 he unsuccessfully sought a vacated Assembly seat that was filled with a selection made by Republican committee members. He has shifted further right in recent years, has embraced anti-vaccine rhetoric and conspiracies about the 2020 election, and has used his radio show to promote those with bigoted or extremist views, Politico reported.

“Politicians, they talk at you,” Spadea said. “Me, I listen. I’ve heard you loud and clear.”

Spadea said he will make “tough budget cuts that scare the career politicians” and change the way schools are funded so suburban parents pay lower property taxes. His campaign materials also feature a photo of a drag queen story hour — frequently maligned by conservatives — and a promise to stop “indoctrination” in schools. He also says that if he is elected governor, New Jersey will no longer welcome undocumented immigrants.