PRINCETON – Expansive, conversational, and detail-oriented in his answers, Bill Spadea, Republican candidate for governor, trusts that his message, combined with grassroots voter contact, will vault him over the heads of his rivals on June 10th, Primary Day – or at least through an opening.
A radio and media personality, founder of the Common Sense Club, a nonprofit promoting fiscal conservatism, Marine Corps veteran, and businessman, Spadea first ran for office in 2004 against then-incumbent U.S. Rep. Rush Holt. He subsequently ran afoul of the Chris Christie political apparatus and robustly assumed the role of populist activist and establishment antagonist.
Along the way, he’s used superior communications skills to connect with people, argue politics from the conservative side of his party, and make friends, even in the midst of vigorous debate. Sitting in a downtown diner here, Spadea told InsiderNJ he learned a lot from the campaign against Holt all those years ago, when his star power made Mercer Democrats sweat, and his unsuccessful tilt with Christie’s allies in 2012, in LD-16, Jack Ciattarelli’s old legislative district.
More about him in a minute.
But what’s different now in this statewide race for Spadea?
“I have a pathway to victory,” he said, with confidence. “I believe in retail politics, and because of tremendous success in broadcasting [as a 101.5 FM host], I have an audience, and I have a relationship with that audience. It’s a grassroots element that no one else has in this Republican Primary. We’re in touch with many more people than the other guys.”
Spadea cites the 2021 Republican Primary, when upstart candidates Phil Rizzo and Hirsh Singh combined to receive 160,155 votes, or almost as many as party nominee Ciattarelli (168K).
“Without the [party] line there is an opportunity for a populist, grassroots conservative,” Spadea said. “Jack – voters know him, but they don’t want him [when one considers the combined showing of Rizzo and Singh four years ago, he argues].
“There’s a gaping hole and I intend to run right through it,” the candidate added.
The bad blood with Christie and a lot of Christie’s old allies only energizes him.
“The Republican backroom elites are attacking me now and they were attacking me then,” he said. “That’s fine, because the backroom is the reason why the Republican Party is disconnected from regular people. What does the party stand for? You have some good ones – a lot of good ones – but the overall resistance by the backroom to my candidacy is energizing because the roadblock is their complacency, the complacency of the backroom to protect itself at the expense of voters.
“I am a true populist,” Spadea exulted.
Think about that, he urged, in the context of “two completely unknown candidates receiving 50% of the primary vote against Jack.”
Ciattarelli allies disagree, of course, and see their candidate smothering Spadea.
But when the radio talk show host dives into the meat of the issues, he seems genuinely happy.
“The issues in this race? Affordability, public safety, and government efficiency,” Spadea told InsiderNJ. “It’s not as simple as billions wasted – it’s ‘government’s not responsive.’ There’s a level of frustration out there that I learned about from being on the air for ten years. …COVID was the turning point when Phil Murphy earned an F-minus business rating, coupled with all the education loss. Other governors’ states survived and exceled, and we didn’t. It was devastating. It seemed government got separated from regular people.”
But it goes way back, and Spadea blames both parties.
“When [then-Governor] Christie Todd Whitman moved pension money to pay tax cuts we got an education in what not to do,” he said. “[Then-Governor Jim] Florio [prior to Whitman] with his taxes gave people the right to be upset. There was a spending problem, then as now, and the challenge has been every time the legislature moves, the governor moves. Nobody talks about spending.”
Spadea wants to substantially cut state spending to improve people’s quality of life in New Jersey, not with gimmicks – his word – like the Democrats Stay NJ program, which he says dangles a carrot in front of seniors with relatively small savings while failing to club down inordinate property taxes.
How does he want to do it?
He wants to end New Jersey as a sanctuary state for illegal immigration.
He’s the best man for the job among Republicans, he says.
Democrats?
Forget about it.
“Jack Ciattarelli was and still is in favor of driver’s licenses for illegals, and he supported taxpayer subsidies for in-state college tuition for illegals,” Spadea said. It wasn’t just Democrats who fueled illegal immigration and New Jersey’s status as a sanctuary state, “But weak Republicans, like Jack,” he added.
Spadea estimates he could save New Jersey a few billion dollars by clamping down on illegal immigration. “I saw the budget go from $35 billion when Christie left office to $58 and change billion,” he said. “You’re talking about nearly doubling the size of the budget. Part of the problem is Republicans have accepted the status quo. The Republicans under Ciattarelli and [State GOP Chair Bob] Hugin accepted the status quo and campaigned for the crumbs off the Democrat table. They accept one party in the majority and bargain for spending in their districts, so Republicans are equally guilty. I want to implement NJ DOGE cuts and line-item veto Christman Tree items.”
He figures he can cut additional healthcare, programming, infrastructure and other costs New Jersey takes on in the service of up to an estimated one million undocumented workers, he says, and another billion by taking over the Newark Public School System and transitioning 4k students on a charter schools waiting list into charters, while roughing up the NJEA in the process, and finding more savings by renegotiating teacher pensions.
Just as Democrats running for governor this month began more fervently attacking one another, with former Senate President Steve Sweeney perhaps most visibly going negative against perceived frontrunner U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the GOP likewise doesn’t shrink from sharpened elbows.
Spadea, of course, is less willing to throw a body blow at Senator Jon Bramnick than the frontrunning Ciattarelli. “I have known Jon for a long time, and I believe him when he says he would shut down the government if the Democrats don’t pass his budget. But I don’t know how he presents to the voters when he has a history of being the guy taking the crumbs off the table from Democrats.”
As for Ciattarelli’s proposal to combine existing agencies to curb waste, fraud, and abuse, Spadea said, “What he presents is based on the crowd he’s in front of at any given time. He was all in favor of DEI then onstage at an African American Chamber of Commerce he didn’t want to touch DOGE. It’s just hard to take Jack seriously. He’s more of a Democrat than a republican. I just don’t take him seriously when he says he’s going to consolidate departments, because he’s the guy who vowed to expand government, saying the reason the state’s lagging is because we don’t have a Department of Commerce. It’s stupid.”
But what about the Democrats? What or who over there scares him the most about the batch vying for the governor’s office?
“Each one of the Democratic potential nominees is attacking [President Donald] Trump,” said Spadea. “If you look at the rebound of the stock market and the thousands of jobs coming back. I believe it will be a popular position to be with President Trump, but that’s their party line. Also, they are all in a mode of defending the four years of Joe Biden. Joe Biden was thrown to the wolves, even by his own party, and so it’s a strange position. Finally, they are all in the equally awkward posture of defending Phil Murphy, and there is no doubt, that there is Murphy fatigue right now.”
Sizing up the map in the GOP Primary, Spadea sees his own organizational advantage in mighty Ocean County, under the auspices of Republican Party strongman George Gilmore, complemented by the grassroots work he’s done in pick-off towns in counties supposedly dominated by his rivals. Morris County, another big GOP voter stronghold, favors Bramnick over Ciattarelli – “Bad news for Jack,” said Spadea, moments before rushing back out to the trail for a scheduled town hall in Hainesport, a town in Ciatttarelli-dominant Burlington on paper, but where, Spadea said, on the run, “We have the necessity of building.”
Insider NJ recently sat down with Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Spadea to discuss his campaign and his vision for the future of New Jersey. Spadea, a successful businessman and political outsider, is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility, economic growth, and government transparency.
One of the key components of Spadea’s campaign is his belief in a pathway to victory for Republicans in New Jersey. Despite the state’s historically Democratic leanings, Spadea is confident that with the right message and the right candidate, Republicans can win the governorship in 2021.
Spadea believes that New Jersey residents are tired of high taxes, wasteful spending, and government corruption. He is committed to cutting taxes, reducing government waste, and holding elected officials accountable for their actions. By focusing on these issues, Spadea believes he can appeal to a broad cross-section of voters and build a winning coalition for the Republican Party.
In addition to his focus on fiscal responsibility and government transparency, Spadea is also passionate about economic growth and job creation. He believes that by cutting red tape, lowering taxes, and promoting a business-friendly environment, New Jersey can attract new businesses and create new opportunities for its residents. Spadea’s background as a successful entrepreneur gives him a unique perspective on how to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the state.
Overall, Spadea’s message is one of hope and optimism for the future of New Jersey. He believes that with the right leadership and the right policies, the state can overcome its challenges and thrive once again. As the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Spadea is determined to offer voters a clear alternative to the status quo and provide a pathway to victory for his party in the upcoming election.
