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NEWARK, New Jersey — President Trump will hope to be the GOP’s marquee closer in Tuesday’s off-year elections in New Jersey and Virginia, holding tele-rallies for the two Republican gubernatorial candidates Monday evening. The president formally endorsed New Jersey Republican gubernatorial hopeful Jack Ciattarelli and did a tele-rally on his behalf last month — but had yet to do the same for Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Trump’s election eve intervention will come on the heels of former President Barack Obama holding blockbuster in-person rallies for Democratic New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill and former Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger on Saturday. “Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World?” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday. “VOTE REPUBLICAN for massive Energy Cost reductions, large-scale Tax Cuts, and basic Common Sense!” Ciattarelli and Earle-Sears are both trailing in polls of their respective races, with New Jersey being the more competitive of the two blue-state races. Republicans are hoping for a shock repeat of 2021, when Glenn Youngkin shocked Democrat Terry McAuliffe to win the Virginia governor’s mansion for the GOP, while Ciattarelli ran a closer-than-expected race against incumbent New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Over the weekend, Obama framed the New Jersey and Virginia elections as referenda on his successor. The following year, Republicans regained the House of Representatives — though by narrower margins than many expected. By contrast, Trump has made clear that he will directly attack the Democratic nominees as far-left radicals. During his tele-rally with Ciattarelli last month, Trump ripped into Sherrill as “fake and corrupt.” “Mikie, as they call her — the only thing she’s got is an unusual name, other than that she’s terrible,” he chided. “…Mikie Sherrill looks [like] such an innocent name, but her energy policies would send your prices soaring and make New Jersey even more expensive than it already is.” Ciattarelli has downplayed the outside help. “The candidate has to go out and win the race,” he told The Post last week. “I know my opponent’s bringing in this person, that person. She could bring in the ghost of FDR. It’s not going to matter. “At the end of the day, here in New Jersey, the candidate has to go out and win the race. That’s exactly what I do each and every day.”
