Former Englewood Cliffs mayor Mario Kranjac has entered the crowded race for the Republican nomination to become New Jersey’s next governor.

Kranjac, who announced his candidacy Sunday, told the New Jersey Monitor he’s a “forever Trumper” with unwavering views and a track record of winning over Democratic voters.

“As a person who’s always supported President Trump, I’m not a politician who’s going to look at how the wind is blowing and decide what my values and beliefs are,” he said.

A venture capitalist and attorney, Kranjac was elected Englewood Cliffs mayor in 2016 — the first Republican in 40 years to win the seat in the blue-leaning borough.

“I self-imposed a two-term limit,” he said. “Given the shape that New Jersey’s in, I think any elected office should have a term (limit) attached to it. The terms may vary, but we have people who have just outstayed their welcome and not done a good job. It’s good to have new people come in with new ideas.”

New Jersey doesn’t set term or age limits for any elected office besides the governor’s office, even though such limits are popular with voters.

Kranjac, making his first bid for statewide office, joins a race where nine other Republicans already have staked a claim on the seat Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has held since 2018. Murphy’s second term ends in January 2026; he’s barred from seeking a third term this November.

Kranjac said his top priority, if elected, would be to cut taxes 2% for each year he’s governor by cutting waste, as Trump has tasked Elon Musk to do under a new, controversial Department of Government Efficiency.

“It’s possible. You just got to get all the fluff out of local, county, and state government. You’re seeing that happen at the federal level right now, where there’s a recapture of money. We need to do the same. I’ll call it the New Jersey DOGE,” he said.

Such efforts are already underway in many red states.

Other priorities listed on his campaign website echo policy positions of Trump and other conservatives, including securing the border, fighting crime, protecting life “from conception until natural death,” and educating “not indoctrinat(ing) students.”

He’s also not keen on state government and judges “usurping the authority of mayors and councils and planning boards,” pointing to affordable housing requirements as an example.

As Englewood Cliffs mayor, Kranjac sought to block affordable housing in his borough, which is one of the wealthiest statewide. That earned him a critical 2019 editorial in which the Star-Ledger called him a “Trumpy mayor.” He embraced that nickname in his gubernatorial announcement, while also taking a swipe at the news outlet as “fake news,” one of Trump’s favorite insults.

He doubled down on the issue during an interview with the New Jersey Monitor Monday.

“These are unfunded state mandates on municipalities to mandate an explosion of their population just under the guise of affordable housing,” he said. “We need to make the whole state affordable and stop basically with the sham, with so much money being thrown back at developers who put it back into the politicians’ hands who appoint judges who keep the whole sham going.”

Kranjac pointed to a January poll that showed 47% of registered Republicans and 56% of Democrats in New Jersey remain undecided on who they’ll support in the June primary, even after the declared candidates have “spent millions of dollars and have been at this for a year or two.”

As governor, Kranjac said, he would follow Trump’s approach to policymaking.

“(He’s) a guy who basically looked at a problem and says, ‘Well, what’s the best things for everyone, not just for that 1 or 2% of very vocal protest group that has the media behind them, because they just want to stir the pot?’” he said.

He added: “I align with the values and beliefs that he’s espousing, which is basically that we’re going to return to normal. The whole country is going to return to normal. The state of New Jersey should return to normal.”