Aide to N.J. GOP governor nominee states opposition to marriage equality and to 'taking money from Jews'

An aide to Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor, stated opposition to marriage equality and to taking money from Jewish people during a recent event. Ciattarelli is now disputing how the aide's statements were characterized.

Ibrar Nadeem, Ciattarelli’s executive director for Muslim relations, made the remarks at a Saturday Muslims4JackToo event in Piscataway. Ciattarelli is running for governor against Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a U.S. House member from New Jersey. The incumbent, Democrat Phil Murphy, is term-limited.

At the event, Nadeem said, “We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage,” as documented in video posted on X. He noted that Ciattarelli had voted against marriage equality as a New Jersey state representative and would continue to oppose it. He followed that by saying, “Somebody said you are taking money from Jews. I check my bank account every day, brother. It is not there.”

Ciattarelli then took the mike and did not condemn Nadeem’s statements, instead saying, “Dr. Ibrar Nadeem. Just once I wish you’d say exactly what’s on your mind. Let’s hear it one time, one more time for the doctor.” He also called Nadeem “this very, very impressive man” who “hasn’t let me down one day.”

New Jersey has had marriage equality since 2013. Then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, had vetoed a marriage equality bill passed by the legislature in 2012, but LGBTQ+ rights group Garden State Equality sued. Christie gave up the court fight in 2013, and marriage equality went into effect. The state further enshrined equal marriage rights in its laws in 2022, so it would have to change the law if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

Ciattarelli voted against the marriage equality bill as a state legislator in 2012, the Human Rights Campaign notes. He also voted against allowing transgender people to change the gender marker on their birth certificate if they have not undergone gender-affirming surgery, but he reversed that stance in a later vote.

This year he said he would repeal a New Jersey policy banning forced outing of trans students to their parents, and in a previous race for governor, against Murphy in 2021, promised “to roll back the LGBTQ curriculum” in schools. He claimed schools are “teaching sodomy in sixth grade,” which is not true, Gothamist reported at the time. He denied that the “sodomy” comment was anti-LGBTQ+, saying it was simply an objection to “mature content being taught to young children.” He did not provide examples of such content.

As for his positions regarding Jewish people, his campaign website touts his “deep and personal relationships throughout New Jersey’s various and diverse Jewish communities” and says that as governor, he would support “first-in-the-nation legislation” to fight anti-Semitism.
In a Monday night post on X, which Ciattarelli's campaign shared in response to The Advocate's request for comment, he accused Sherrill of lying, expressed support for marriage equality, and said Nadeem's statements were mischaracterized.

"Do you ever get tired of lying @MikieSherrill? You know I support same sex marriage," he wrote. "You also know the full clip of Dr. Nadeem’s remarks are clear: He was talking about the grief he gets from some BECAUSE of my unwavering support for the Jewish community and Israel and his own efforts to build bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Your desperate lies will backfire. NJ’s Jewish community doesn’t need lectures from Mamdani supporters like you who didn’t even have the moral courage to stand with Israel. Shame on you for, once again, trying to divide people more with lies."

Related: Marriage equality will be banned in these 31 states if Obergefell is overturned

HRC and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee earlier called on Ciattarelli to repudiate Nadeem’s remarks. “It should be shocking that Jack Ciattarelli proudly supported a senior adviser to his campaign who said, in his presence, that if elected governor of New Jersey, he’d work to reverse marriage equality in the state,” said a statement from Reg Calcagno, HRC director of national campaigns. “But it’s no surprise. This is who Jack has always been — previously voting to oppose same-sex marriage in New Jersey and following the MAGA lead on his anti-LGBTQ+ views. New Jersey deserves better, and that’s why we’re doing everything possible to ensure that Mikie Sherrill is elected the next governor of the Garden State.”

New Jersey Democratic State Committee spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki added, “This kind of vile, antisemitic and homophobic speech has no place in this country and no place in New Jersey — but it found a home on the Jack Ciattarelli campaign, with the candidate himself praising this individual minutes after his disgusting remarks. Jack Ciattarelli must immediately fire this member of his ‘inner circle,’ denounce these beliefs, and apologize to the New Jerseyans who have been harmed by the hate peddled by his campaign.”

Sherrill, who has an LGBTQ-supportive record in Congress, leads Ciattarelli by five to 10 percentage points in most polls, but the race is still a competitive one.