Northeast
New Jersey GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli confident state will flip red in 2025
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New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli was the picture of confidence on Friday, predicting victory in November and a Republican majority in the state legislature for the first time in decades.
Speaking with “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy at a diner in Hackensack, N.J., Ciattarelli called the race against Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill a “dead heat.”
“We’ve got 61 days to go. We’ll finish strong, and we’re going to deliver a win for New Jersey,” he said.
He pledged to lower taxes and shrink government in a state known for its high costs.
Republican Jack Ciattarelli celebrates with supporters after winning the New Jersey GOP gubernatorial nomination, on primary night, June 10, 2025, in Holmdel, N.J. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S RACE: DEMOCRAT SHERRILL LEADS REPUBLICAN CIATTARELLI BY SIX POINTS IN 2026 BELLWETHER
“I’m going to reduce the size and cost of our state government to afford a tax cut for our individuals and businesses, and with a new school funding formula, we can lower property taxes,” he said. “We’ll get it done.”
Ciattarelli also promised a GOP majority in the legislature, noting the party flipped eight seats when he ran for governor in 2021. That year, he lost by only three points to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in a state that has long been blue but swung to the right in recent years.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris won New Jersey by less than six points in the 2024 presidential election, a drastic shift from when former President Joe Biden won the state by nearly 16 points in 2020.
GOP ACTIVIST REVEALS WHY NEW JERSEY IS NOT ‘JUST A DEMOCRAT STATE’ IN PUSH TO FLIP GOVERNORSHIP
“Make no mistake, we’re going to win a Republican majority this year,” Ciattarelli said. “We can flip 13 this year. When we do that, we get something we haven’t had in 25 years, a Republican majority in our state legislature.”
New Jersey is not a “deep-blue” state when it comes to governor’s races, the candidate added, pointing out Republicans have won six of the past 11 gubernatorial elections. Republican Chris Christie won in 2009 and 2013 before Murphy won the past two elections.
“My opponent is Murphy 2.0,” Ciattarelli said of Sherrill, adding, “she’s not from New Jersey. So I got an idea. How about we elect a Jersey guy?”
TRUMP NOT ON BALLOT, BUT PRESIDENT FRONT AND CENTER IN NEW JERSEY’S PRIMARY FOR GOVERNOR
Polling shows Ciattarelli has an uphill climb over the next two months, with a new survey showing him down seven points.
Fox News Digital reached out to Sherrill’s campaign for comment.
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Just one day after Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced a new state council tasked with studying the impacts of AI data centers in Maine, a new poll suggests a majority of Mainers oppose their construction.
A new poll from UMass Lowell found that 72% of Mainers are against AI data centers being built in their communities.
That includes 51% who strongly oppose the projects, while only 28% support them.
In April, Mills vetoed a bill that would have paused all large-scale AI data center projects in the state, citing a planned facility in Jay.
Since then, several Maine communities have adopted moratoriums of their own. The latest is Scarborough, which enacted its moratorium earlier this week.
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One in three Massachusetts residents use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude, according to Microsoft data.
Generative AI can create words, music, pictures, or videos, based on user prompts. For example, if you type a prompt asking for a fictional story, the AI tool will generate a passage with a setting, characters, and plot.
About 33.4% of working-age residents in Massachusetts use these tools, placing the state 11th in the U.S., according to Q1 2026 data. Hampshire County, home to the Five College Consortium, has the highest AI usage rate, at 45.1%.
Microsoft found that counties with more employment in professional and technical services, corporate management, healthcare, information and media, and finance tend to have higher AI usage. Additionally, counties with larger shares of residents ages 18 to 24 tend to have higher levels of AI usage.
Counties with larger shares of workers in manufacturing, agriculture, mining, oil and gas, and construction tend to have lower AI usage, according to Microsoft.
The figures are based on anonymized Microsoft usage data and adjusted for differences in devices, operating systems, internet access, and population size.
Top Massachusetts counties by generative AI usage
Here are Massachusetts’ 14 counties ranked by generative AI usage in Quarter 1 of 2026, and how they rank nationally, according to Microsoft:
- Hampshire County – 45.1% of residents (#28 nationally)
- Middlesex County – 37.9% of residents (#118 nationally)
- Suffolk County – 35.6% of residents (#191 nationally)
- Norfolk County – 34.3% of residents (#233 nationally)
- Worcester County – 33.5% of residents (#265 nationally)
- Plymouth County – 32.9% of residents (#283 nationally)
- Essex County – 30.8% of residents (#385 nationally)
- Bristol County – 28.2% of residents (#553 nationally)
- Hampden County – 27.1% of residents (#645 nationally)
- Barnstable County – 25.5% of residents (#790 nationally)
- Berkshire County – 24.7% of residents (#878 nationally)
- Nantucket County – 24.1% of residents (#937 nationally)
- Franklin County – 23.8% of residents (#961 nationally)
- Dukes County – 15.4% of residents (#2,450 nationally)
Top states by generative AI usage
Here are the 50 states ranked by generative AI usage in Quarter 1 of 2026, according to Microsoft:
- Maryland (24 counties) – 36.3% of residents
- Utah (29 counties) – 35.7% of residents
- Texas (254 counties) – 35.3% of residents
- Virginia (133 counties) – 34.7% of residents
- New Jersey (21 counties) – 34.5% of residents
- Nevada (17 counties) – 34.2% of residents
- California (58 counties) – 34.0% of residents
- Connecticut (9 counties) – 34.0% of residents
- Georgia (159 counties) – 33.7% of residents
- Florida (67 counties) – 33.6% of residents
- Massachusetts (14 counties) – 33.4% of residents
- Illinois (102 counties) – 33.3% of residents
- New York (62 counties) – 32.7% of residents
- Rhode Island (5 counties) – 32.5% of residents
- Colorado (64 counties) – 32.3% of residents
- Washington (39 counties) – 32.2% of residents
- Arizona (15 counties) – 31.4% of residents
- Hawaii (5 counties) – 30.6% of residents
- Delaware (3 counties) – 30.6% of residents
- New Hampshire (10 counties) – 30.2% of residents
- North Carolina (100 counties) – 30.1% of residents
- South Carolina (46 counties) – 29.1% of residents
- Oklahoma (77 counties) – 28.9% of residents
- Idaho (44 counties) – 28.8% of residents
- Kansas (105 counties) – 28.6% of residents
- Tennessee (95 counties) – 28.5% of residents
- Oregon (36 counties) – 28.4% of residents
- Ohio (88 counties) – 28.3% of residents
- Wisconsin (72 counties) – 28.2% of residents
- North Dakota (53 counties) – 28.2% of residents
- Michigan (83 counties) – 27.4% of residents
- South Dakota (66 counties) – 27.4% of residents
- Alabama (67 counties) – 27.3% of residents
- Pennsylvania (67 counties) – 27.2% of residents
- Indiana (92 counties) – 26.8% of residents
- Missouri (114 counties, 1 independent city) – 26.8% of residents
- Nebraska (93 counties) – 26.4% of residents
- Minnesota (87 counties) – 26.3% of residents
- Louisiana (64 parishes) – 26.1% of residents
- Arkansas (75 counties) – 26.0% of residents
- Wyoming (23 counties) – 25.5% of residents
- Kentucky (120 counties) – 25.1% of residents
- Iowa (99 counties) – 24.4% of residents
- New Mexico (33 counties) – 23.9% of residents
- Alaska (19 organized boroughs, 1 unorganized borough) – 23.6% of residents
- Vermont (14 counties) – 23.3% of residents
- Mississippi (82 counties) – 22.9% of residents
- Montana (56 counties) – 22.7% of residents
- Maine (16 counties) – 21.4% of residents
- West Virginia (55 counties) – 20.8% of residents
Clare Mulroy of USA TODAY contributed to this report.
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