NJ Democratic Candidate Accuses Opponent of Killing ‘Tens of Thousands of People’ in Wild Debate Exchange

A New Jersey gubernatorial debate got heated Wednesday when Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill accused Republican Jack Ciattarelli of killing thousands of people during their final showdown before November’s highly-anticipated election.

Although the state is traditionally blue, New Jersey saw a significant shift to the right during the 2024 presidential election. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the state over Donald Trump by just five points — a staggering drop from President Joe Biden’s 16-point win in 2020.

The outcome of New Jersey’s election could also predict where the country is headed before the 2026 midterm elections. In previous years — as noted by CNN’s Harry Enten — if a party won the governor’s race in both New Jersey and Virginia, that party usually went on to take control of the House in the midterms. Because of this historical trend, much of the nation’s attention has been on those two states heading into November.

During the debate, Sherrill criticized Ciattarelli for his supposed role in the state’s opioid crisis. According to a 2021 report, Ciattarelli’s company Galen Publishing produced “continuing education materials for major universities” that “funded by millions in grants from some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry.” The report suggested that these materials “appeared to downplay the dangers of opioids.”

“My opponent likes to talk a lot about being a businessman,” Sherrill said, “but I think what New Jersey doesn’t know as much about his business, how he made his millions by working with some of the worst offenders and saying that opioids were safe, putting out propaganda, publishing their propaganda, while tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, then he was paid to develop an app so that people who are addicted could more easily get access to opioids; and so, as he made millions, as these opioid companies made billions, tens of thousands of New Jerseyans died,” she continued.

In response, Ciattarelli claimed Sherrill “had no problem whatsoever” with illegal immigration under the Biden administration — which he argued could have contributed to the fentanyl crisis in NJ communities. He also said Sherrill’s remarks about his career were a “lie” and that he was “proud” of it. Sherrill then explicitly accused him of killing tens of thousands of people:

SHERRILL: I’m happy to publish the information–

CIATTARELLI: I’m sure you are.

SHERRILL: –and here are the facts, because I think our kids deserve better. I think the people you got addicted and died deserve better than you; and I’ll tell you–

CIATTARELLI: Addicted and died?

SHERRILL: Yeah, tens of thousands as you published misinformation, as you got more people addicted, as you work to develop — got paid to develop an app so that more people could get more opioids and die–

CIATTARELLI: I got to walk at my college graduation.

SHERRILL: But here’s the fact, I–

CIATTARELLI: I got to walk at my college graduation.

SHERRILL: And I’m so glad that you went on to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children–

CIATTARELLI: I never broke the law.

SHERRIILL: –as they got you — just broke the law! In fact, your campaign, right now, is under federal investigation for how you illegally got access to my records!

CIATTARELLI: No, you’ve broken the law!

SHERRILL: So to say that right now, and I think you’re trying to divert from the fact that you killed tens of thousands of people by printing–

CIATTARELLI: You’ve broken the law!

SHERRILL: –your misinformation, your propaganda, and then getting paid to develop an app so that people could more easily get the opioids once they were addicted. Families across the state deserve to know more about that.

Watch above via ABC