For decades, the nominee from the party opposite of the president’s has won the governor’s race. Phil Murphy veered from that pattern in 2021 when he won reelection narrowly over Ciattarelli, now in his third campaign for governor. Ciattarelli says Sherrill only wants to discuss Trump and not New Jersey issues. She was a federal prosecutor before being elected to Congress in 2018 in a longtime Republican-held district in northern New Jersey. New Jersey utility ratepayers have seen their bills spike due to higher costs from grid operators.