With 11 months to go, N.J.’s gubernatorial race is already crowded, but most voters don’t know who the candidates are

From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.

More than a dozen candidates have entered New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, even though the election isn’t until November 2025.

Despite this, many Garden State voters have never even heard of most of the candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, according to a recent Rutgers Eagleton poll.

Peter Woolley, founding director of the School of Public and Global Affairs at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said this is not surprising because New Jersey does not have its own media market, relying instead on New York and Philadelphia radio and TV stations for information.

“The only person who really has a high profile in New Jersey is the governor, even the U.S. senators can fly under the radar of the public,” he said.

Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, said because most people don’t know anything about the top-tier candidates, it’s difficult to determine who the front-runners are.

“On the Republican side, probably Jack Ciattarelli, he has raised more money. He was the candidate in 2021, lost by about three points to [Gov.] Phil Murphy, [and] has not stopped running since then,” he said.

Woolley said another GOP contender, conservative radio host Bill Spadea, has campaign signs up all over the state.

“He is a full-on Trumper and he has the endorsement of one of the most important Republican Party chairs,” he said, referring to Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore, who endorsed Spadea this summer.

New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick, who did not support President-elect Trump, is also in the Republican race, as is former GOP state Sen. Ed Durr. State Sen. Michael Testa has been mentioned as a possible candidate but has not officially declared candidacy.

Among Democrats, North Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer has already raised more than $20 million for his campaign, Dworkin said, and Sean Spiller, the president of the New Jersey Education Association, has millions of dollars in his war chest; however, they are currently not considered front-runners.

“Most analysts might say it’s Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill from Northern New Jersey,” Dworkin said.

Woolley agreed that Sherrill appears to be leading the pack.

“She’s the only woman on the Democratic side, or actually on either side in this race, and she has the ability to raise money, but she also seems to have the ability to get a lot of very important endorsements,” Woolley said.

He said Jersey’s gubernatorial race is always somewhat of a reaction to a newly elected president.

“It’s likely that’s going to give the Democratic candidate in the general election something of a boost,” he said. “Simply because voters tend to react in New Jersey against whoever is sitting in the White House.”

Dworkin said Democratic voters will have a choice about what kind of candidate they will select when they head to the polls for the primary next June.

“One who is focused on standing up to Trump, or are the Democrats going to return to their roots as a mainstream, working-class party that is focused not on Trump but on making New Jersey affordable,” he said.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney are running in the Democratic primary.