Ciattarelli and Sherrill clash over military records, immigration and Trump in final New Jersey governor’s debate

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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.

Sherrill’s military records continue to be a campaign issue

New Jersey Globe first reported that Sherrill was barred from walking with her class at the U.S. Naval Academy as punishment connected to a cheating scandal at the service academy. Then, CBS News reported that a branch of the National Archives released a version of her military records to a Ciattarelli ally that did not redact her social security number, life insurance policy and other sensitive data.

Sherrill explained that her punishment was for not turning in classmates who were involved with cheating.

“But I went on to graduate. I was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy,” she said.

Ciattarelli renewed his call for Sherrill to release her military records.

“I think she was punished for something else and so I think she needs to come clean,” he said.

Sherrill’s campaign has accused the Trump administration of working in concert with the Ciattarelli campaign.

The Inspector General of the National Archives is investigating the matter.

Trump comes up during the debate

Ciattarelli once again positioned himself as someone who agrees with Trump, but is not part of the MAGA movement.

“I’m part of a New Jersey movement,” he said. “We need change in New Jersey.”

Ciattarelli said he agrees with the president on border security and spoke positively about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Despite his stance against wind farms off the New Jersey coast, Ciattarelli said he disagreed with Trump about halting the Empire Wind 1 project off the coast of Long Island.

Sherrill reiterated that Trump called Ciattarelli “100% MAGA,” referring to the president’s endorsement on his Truth Social platform.

“He said it’s his job to support the president of the United States,” she said. “I think as governor it’s the job to support the people of New Jersey.”

Ciattarelli recalled how Gov. Phil Murphy visited Trump seeking help in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“[Murphy] had a very nice conversation with him and got the respirators we needed because our ERs were on overload and people were dying,” he said. “It’s important to have a relationship, and relationship means respectfully disagreeing when you believe the president’s wrong and agreeing to get things done on behalf of New Jersey.”

While Ciattarelli gave Trump an ‘A’ so far in his second term, Sherrill gave the president an ‘F.’

The areas where Ciattarelli and Sherrill agreed

Despite their differences, Ciattarelli and Sherrill agreed that children are still grappling with learning loss due to the pandemic and that there is a mental health crisis in the state.

Both agree that New Jersey needs to be more affordable and energy independent.

They even agree that the Garden State should continue its long-held practice of drivers not being able to pump their own gas.

“I think a lot of people really love our state laws as they are,” Sherrill said.

Ciattarelli called it “one of our special differences here in New Jersey.”