The first government shutdown since 2019 began on Wednesday. The news was in the front of mind for politicians, reporters, government workers, and even tourists.
But Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor endorsed by President Donald Trump, was largely quiet on the issue that day.
At a campaign event in Haddon Township in Camden County, he gave an energetic speech that lasted more than 15 minutes to a courtyard full of supporters as progressive protestors could be heard across the street.
He attacked his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, but despite running against a member of Congress he didn’t raise the biggest news of the day: the federal government shutdown.
Ciattarelli’s campaign did not make him available for an interview about the shutdown Wednesday as he hurried to a fundraiser that night and hit the trail the next day.
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Ciattarelli said that he doesn’t know who to blame for the shutdown because he doesn’t “know enough about the details” when asked by a reporter for NJ.com.
Sherrill shared Ciattarelli’s quote on X and responded, “It’s your boss,” referencing Trump.
Sherrill on Wednesday blamed Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, for the shutdown and said they have “once again shown they’re willing to turn their backs on the American people in order to blindly follow Donald Trump’s demands.”
Republicans will need at least seven Democratic votes to end the shutdown under the Senate rules, which require a 60-vote threshold. Democratic leaders are asking to extend health subsidies and roll back Medicaid cuts in exchange for their votes, but Trump and GOP leadership have so far rejected that demand.
“Instead of working with Democrats to lower costs, protect health care, and support working people, Washington Republicans bent the knee to Donald Trump, shutting down the government in the process,” Sherrill said.
The Trump administration said it plans to withhold funding for the Gateway Program as part of its punishment of Democratic leaders not supporting the stopgap bill. Russ Vought, the director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, pinned blame on needing to “ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.”
The Gateway Program, championed by Sherrill to connect New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River, is already under construction.
Sherrill said she will “fight tooth and nail” to sue Trump’s administration and protect the project as governor. She also criticized Ciattarelli for his continued support of Trump.
Ciattarelli finally weighed in on the issue Thursday, calling Sherrill “an absentee Congresswoman who missed 90% of votes this year” in a social media post and text from his campaign manager.
Sherrill’s campaign did not comment on that figure. According to GovTrack, a website that tracks congressional attendance, Sherrill has missed 87% of votes from July 23 to Sept. 18 this year, though she has not missed any of the three that took place since then. Sherrill missed 6.5% of votes during her last term from January 2023 to January 2025.
Ciattarelli also blamed Sherrill for voting “against a bipartisan plan to keep the govt open & fund Gateway.”
Just one House Democrat and three Senate Democratic caucus members voted for the GOP plan to keep the government open without rolling back the Medicaid cuts. The Gateway project already secured federal funding which Trump is now freezing as part of the government shutdown.
Chris Russell, Ciattarelli’s campaign consultant, said Wednesday that Sherrill “owns this shutdown” and is to blame for “any negative impacts on Gateway tunnel project and other NJ priorities.”