An unpaid adviser to the Republican nominee for governor of New Jersey advocated for a ban on same-sex marriage and insisted he personally isn’t “taking money from Jews.”
Ibrar Nadeem, the Muslim relations adviser to Jack Ciattarelli, hosted an event Saturday where he delivered a wide-ranging, 20-minute speech that included a call to ban same-sex marriage. Toward the end of his remarks, Nadeem, who is Muslim, said that people in his community accuse him of “taking money from Jews,” to which he replied: “I check my bank account every day, brother, it is not there.”
Nadeem then invited Ciattarelli, who can be seen on video sitting in the audience, on stage around a minute later.
During his own speech, Ciattarelli praised Nadeem and touted that he is the “first gubernatorial candidate in history that has a Muslim as part of his inner circle of advisers.”
Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is facing Ciattarelli for the governorship, called on Ciattarelli to “denounce these comments, fire the individual responsible, and apologize for praising him right after he made these antisemitic and homophobic statements.”
“It’s 2025 and The Jack Campaign opposes same-sex marriage,”she wrote in a social media post. In another, she wrote, “This blatant antisemitism is coming from a member of Jack’s inner circle.”
“Jack could have condemned it but instead sang his praises,” she added. “Absolutely disgraceful.”
In response to Sherrill, Ciattarelli accused her of “lying” and asserted his support of same-sex marriage. He also tied her to Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, who is Muslim and has faced criticism for his views on Israel.
“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,” he wrote on X. “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.”
Ciattarelli’s campaign on Monday said that Nadeem, who was introduced at the event as the “executive director of New Jersey Muslim relations for Jack Ciattarelli” and said in an August Facebook post that he was appointed to that role, is not an employee of the campaign. Nadeem has appeared at multiple events for Ciattarelli, who said he first met him earlier this year.
In a post on Nadeem’s Facebook account, he shared Ciattarelli’s X statement, thanking him for “setting the record straight.”
“Mikie Sherrill, your attacks are false,” Nadeem continued in his post. “I’ve spent years building bridges — especially between Muslim and Jewish communities — and I’m proud of that work. To my Jewish friends, thank you for standing with me and rejecting division. Truth and unity will beat political lies — every time.”
When reached for comment, Nadeem deferred to Ciattarelli’s campaign manager.
Ciattarelli has sought to garner support among the Jewish community throughout the race, including by visiting Israel. The Vaad — an influential group of leaders of the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood and nearby towns that backed Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021 — is reportedly poised to endorse Ciattarelli.
He has also repeatedly sought to tie Sherrill to Mamdani, with the hope of eroding her support among Jewish voters. Mamdani endorsed Sherrill, who has insisted that she is not getting involved in the mayoral race and is instead focusing on her own campaign. But Ciattarelli has accused her of “flip-flopping,” pointing to an interview she did after the New York City primary election and before the race was officially called for Mamdani, in which she said that “if he’s the Democratic candidate, which it sounds like he is, I assume I will” support him in the general election.
Sherrill said that Ciattarelli “doubles down on his support for homophobic and antisemitic comments from a top aide.” She continued to go after him on Tuesday, saying in a statement that “this type of speech has no place in our state and I unequivocally denounce it.”
The comments came as Republicans and Democrats across the country alike have faced scrutiny for bigoted language in private settings. On Monday, POLITICO reported that a White House nominee to lead the special counsel office said in text messages that he has a “Nazi streak” and that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell,” according to a text chat viewed by POLITICO. A lawyer for Ingrassia initially suggested that some of the texts were intended to be poking fun at liberals, though he didn’t confirm they were authentic.
POLITICO also reported last week that members of Young Republican organizations made racist, antisemitic and violent comments in a private group chat, leading to some members losing their jobs and one of them resigning from elected office.
At the same time, the Democratic nominee for attorney general of Virginia faces criticism for supporting violence against a political opponent in text messages. Jones has apologized and argued the texts should not disqualify him from being elected as the state’s top law enforcement official.
The New Jersey Democratic State Committee also criticized Ciattarelli over Nadeem’s comments, as did LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations Garden State Equality and the Human Rights Campaign, both of which back Sherrill. Throughout the campaign, Democrats have gone after Ciattarelli’s 2012 vote — along with most other Republicans in the Legislature — against same-sex marriage.
“Every second he fails to denounce this language is a second he tells LGBTQ+ and Jewish New Jerseyans that their lives and safety are negotiable,” Garden State Equality said in a statement. “We condemn the attempt at the Ciattarelli rally to frame Jewish giving and Islamic faith as opposing forces. This rhetoric not only fuels antisemitism and Islamophobia but distracts from the real issue — a campaign that seeks to roll back marriage equality and divide New Jerseyans for political gain.”
Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who earlier this year unsuccessfully ran for governor against Sherrill, told reporters on Tuesday that “the lame explanation or attempts to justify what this individual said only makes it worse.”
“A real friend of the Jewish community doesn’t applaud disgusting antisemitic tropes,” said Gottheimer, who is Jewish. “They condemn them.”
Democrats have also hit Ciattarelli in recent days for other appearances on the trail, including an event with vaccine skeptics and a recent rally where he appeared with MAGA influencers who have promoted President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Prior to the event, Ciattarelli said that he “can’t control what other people say, and I think I’m judged by what it is that I say.”
Daniel Han contributed to this report.
