Jack Ciattarelli wins GOP primary for New Jersey governor, CNN projects
CNN
Jack Ciattarelli will win the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, CNN projected Tuesday, setting him up to take on Gov. Phil Murphy in the fall.
Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman and the establishment-backed candidate, edged out three other Republican candidates -- engineer Hirsh Singh, pastor Phil Rizzo and former Franklin Mayor Brian Levine -- to win the party's nomination. While he was the front-runner in Tuesday's GOP contest, Ciattarelli now faces a battle against Murphy, the favorite in this year's race. The sitting governor, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, is well-positioned to break a New Jersey streak that began in 1989 of electing a governor from the party opposite of the sitting president, a year after Joe Biden won the state by 16 percentage points.Elected officials, Jewish advocacy groups and civil rights leaders are vowing to “push back” against the message of a White nationalist group that staged a march last week near downtown Columbus, Ohio, calling the demonstration an act of hate unwelcome in their community – and the United States more broadly.
Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.