Republican candidate for New Jersey governor Jack Ciattarelli earned the endorsement of a state police union that previously endorsed Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) during his first gubernatorial campaign.
Ciattarelli celebrated the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police’s endorsement of his candidacy in a post on X.
“I am honored to have the faith, trust, and confidence of the @njfop leadership and, of course, their membership. As Governor, I will do everything in my power to support law enforcement – and their families,” Ciattarelli said in the X post.
Ciattarelli, who has been criticized in the past for comments he’s made on police pay as an assemblyman, has made his support for “backing the blue” a key matter of his campaign. Several other police unions have marked their endorsement of Ciattarelli, including the Association of Former New Jersey State Troopers and the New Jersey State Retired Police and Firemen’s Association.
“In a number of ways, the job of law-enforcement has never been more difficult, which is why recruitment, retention and morale is down,” Ciattarelli wrote on X. “We can change all that by restoring respect for authority, law and order and, most of all, the men and women in blue who are trained and dedicated professionals very much committed to serving and protecting.”
The police union backed Murphy in 2016 ahead of his 2017 gubernatorial campaign against former Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who served under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Guadagno defeated Ciattarelli in the 2017 GOP primary race, earning 46.82% of the vote to Ciattarelli’s 31.08%.
NJFOP President Robert W. Fox attributed the union’s 2016 decision to back Murphy to his prioritization of fixing the state’s police pension problems. At the time, he said Murphy’s “fiscal background will be an asset in addressing this issue.” Ciattarelli explicitly notes his mission to protect the pensions of first responders on his campaign website.
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The union stayed neutral in the 2021 gubernatorial race between Murphy and Ciattarelli.
The NJFOP state chapter is the 7th largest Fraternal Order of Police in the country, with over 16,000 members.
