Ciattarelli and Sherrill spar over military records, immigration and Trump

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During the second and last debate of the 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election, Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill spent an hour debating on a range of issues, including immigration, the opioid crisis and Sherrill’s military records.

The debate took place Wednesday at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. It was sponsored by WHYY News partner 6abc, its sister station WABC-TV in New York City and the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Police at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Both candidates doubled down on issues they touched on, such as affordability and taxes, during their first debate in September at Rider University. Ciattarelli continued to position himself as a Jersey guy with solutions to address issues facing the state. Sherrill stuck with framing Ciattarelli as a loyalist to President Donald Trump.

Ciattarelli and Sherrill had more heated exchanges

The format was a more straightforward debate, as opposed to the town hall-style forum at Rider. This gave room for both candidates to directly trade verbal jabs. Sherrill accused Ciattarelli of profiting from publishing “propaganda” on behalf of opioid makers, which she alleged became the leading cause of death for thousands in New Jersey.

During Ciattarelli’s last gubernatorial bid, NJ.com reported that Ciattarelli’s medical publishing company was paid $12 million by pharmaceutical companies to publish materials promoting opioids as a low-risk treatment for chronic pain.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, then he was paid to develop an app so that people who were addicted could more easily get access to opioids,” she said.

“Shame on you,” Ciattarelli said in response before accusing Sherrill of supporting open border policies that fueled a surge in fentanyl distribution.

The exchange led to Ciattarelli pointing out that Sherrill was not allowed to walk with her graduating class at the U.S. Naval Academy.

“I got to walk at my college graduation,” he said.

“And I’m so glad that you then went on to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children,” Sherill responded.

“And I never broke the law,” Ciattarelli shot back.

“Your campaign right now is under federal investigation for how you illegally got access to my records,” said Sherrill.