Monmouth County, it is no understatement to say, is a Republican county. In presidential elections, the county has voted for the Republican nominee every time since Bill Clinton’s 1996 election and Al Gore’s 2000 bid. Lyndon B. Johnson had flipped the county in 1964 when he carried all of New Jersey’s counties in a sweep. Prior to that, readers would need to look back to the 1912 election which handed Monmouth to Woodrow Wilson (41%), in large part because the Republican vote was split between Republican President William Howard Taft (20%) and former Republican President Theodore Rosevelt running on the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party ticket (34%).

Joe Biden came close to flipping Monmouth in 2020, taking 47.9%, but Harris only came away with 43.3%. In short, Monmouth is a tough nut for Democrats to crack, although it is not beyond the realm of possibility if enough independent voters can be persuaded. Insider NJ spoke with State Senator Vin Gopal (D) who represents the 11th legislative district, situated in Monmouth County. He is joined in the legislature by Democratic Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, who, in 2023, had displaced Republicans Marilyn Piperno and Kimberly Eulner who were elected in 2021. During his second successful state senate bid, Gopal had kept some blue on LD-11’s representation by being re-elected, even though his 2021 running-mates were unsuccessful.

In June, Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill named Senator Gopal as her campaign chairman. Proven to be a political survivor and able to navigate more conservative waters, Gopal believes that Sherrill offers authenticity and realism for voters, and will hopefully prove herself an attractive candidate for Monmouth County residents compared to Jack Ciattarelli. Can she make inroads among suburban and unaffiliated voters in a meaningful way when it comes time to cast a vote? Gopal is counting on it.

“She has been here a lot in Monmouth County,” Gopal told Insider NJ. “She's met with a lot of folks. We have a big veteran population that's been very supportive. But also, we really showed how she's been an independent leader. She's taken on her own party several times. Monmouth County has always appreciated independence, regardless of party, and that's an area where she's really done well. She was among a handful of members of the House who voted against Nancy Pelosi, and was the first Democratic member of Congress in the area to call on Joe Biden to step down. That's a contrast with where Jack is.”

Gopal accused Ciattarelli of being hyper-partisan, while showcasing Sherrill’s willingness to act independently. “Even with the federal shutdown, Jack is refusing to criticize his side of the aisle in any way. I think that we're really just putting Mikie out on who she was, and I think she's going to do much better than Phil Murphy did.”

The Ciattarelli campaign has repeatedly framed Sherrill as a political carbon copy of Governor Phil Murphy—not born in New Jersey, a tax-and-spend liberal, and out of touch. Gopal rejects that view. “Phil Murphy was just a much more liberal candidate than Sherrill. He campaigned on that liberalism, he had Bernie Sanders come down at the end of his last campaign, and he really ran to the left. That's not what Mikie has done in her six years in Congress. She's also been a member of the military, a prosecutor, a member of Congress, and is raising four kids. She is just a way more independent choice.”

While Sherrill’s first elected office was as a member of congress in 2018, Ciattarelli had previously served as a Raritan councilman from 1990-1995, then took a break from politics. He returned to public office, winning a seat on the Somerset Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2007 and serving until 2011 when he became an assemblyman for LD-16. He served until he decided not to seek re-election and run for governor the first time, coming in second place behind the Republican nominee, Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, in 2017. After securing the Republican nomination in 2021, he narrowly lost to Governor Phil Murphy, 51%-48%.

“Jack has been running for office for the last thirty years,” Gopal said. “I think Jack benefited four years ago from a lot of people's COVID frustrations. I don't see that this time, though, and we're very happy with the early vote-by-mail numbers. We're pushing very hard here and I think we're going to have a really good election all the way around.”

Both Phil Murphy and Mikie Sherrill are Democrats, but Gopal wants voters to see that there are stark differences, and that in a comparison among Murphy, Sherrill, and Ciattarelli, no two are, in fact, the same.

“If you look throughout his career,” Gopal continued, “Jack has been running for office for a very, very long time. I think he's in a spot. I think voters, at least in Monmouth County, are seeing it. They might say, ‘we don't know, understand, or maybe agree with every one of Mikie Sherrill's positions, but we're getting something a little bit more authentic’. Even in the last debate that happened. Mikie was the first candidate and ever of either party to say that she would support some kind of mandatory consolidation of government services to dramatically lower taxes.”

“Mikie has made it clear she's willing to take on her own party and take on the legislature,” Gopal said. “She's been correctly critical of the legislative process on when the budget comes out. She criticized Governor Murphy at the last debate about the handling of Motor Vehicle. I think folks understand you get two choices. You have two political parties, but they want to see someone who is a little bit more independent.”

The senator turned back the clock a decade to examine Ciattarelli’s close alignment with the GOP as it suited him, in his view. “We remember what was probably the height of Chris Christie's popularity—when he took on the Republican members of Congress for not giving us Superstorm Sandy funding. They all got funding for Katrina. That was the height of Christie’s popularity. Jack is just not showing himself as very independent. That's the number one thing I get from independents, Republican, and conservative Democrats: they thought Jack would be more independent. The only thing he can point to is when he says, ‘I bucked Chris Christie and called on him to step down’. Well, of course he did. In 2017 the whole state was running away from Chris Christie after Bridgegate. I think that is a lack of independence, which was something that Ciattarelli at one point was known for. We remember the Ciattarelli of 2016. He is just so hesitant, and he will not say anything negative [about his party], and I think there's a real concern. We've seen a lot of things happen at the federal level, and I think folks want a governor who, when Trump is right, is going to work with him, and when Trump is wrong—like what he's doing right now, freezing all the Gateway and construction funds—that their governor is going to stand up to him. That's not what's happening with Jack, and I think that's going to be his Achilles Heel.”

Monmouth County voters, according to Gopal, want their leadership to offer solutions to their problems, and be willing to serve the public good over party ideology. Ciattarelli has accused Sherrill of being vague and unable to articulate specific policy strategies. Sherrill, Gopal says, does offer these, and had sharp words for Ciattarelli. “Jack tells everybody what they want to hear. He's still saying he's going to cut costs, but he's got no specific proposals. He's told the Orthodox community that he's going to dramatically expand school vouchers, how is he going to pay for it? He hasn't said. That could be hundreds of millions of dollars. He has told retirees he's going to fully restore COLA, but he has not said how he's going to pay for it. He has not committed to keeping the ‘Stay in NJ’ program, which is going to take 50% off every senior’s property taxes starting January 1. He says he's going to cut the budget dramatically. I don't know how he's going to do these things. He's not giving any specifics. He tells every single group, every nonprofit, every mayor, what they want to hear and, in the end, he's going to be dealing with a Democratic legislature. I don't know how he's going to do these things.”

As Republicans have long claimed the title of being fiscally conservative, taking aim at the largest state budgets in history under Governor Murphy’s term, Gopal has tried to further differentiate Sherrill’s financial vision as one which is based on soundness and responsibility. One of those ideas can be intensely triggering to those who venerate home rule in the Garden State: services consolidation as a tax-saving approach.  “We have to regionalize shared services. This is another area the Republicans are failing miserably on,” Gopal said. “Jack goes back to Republicans running for the legislature and says they don't want to touch government, but they want to shrink the state. They're basically concerned about school funding, even though all the districts have dramatically lower enrollments. We have buildings that are only 30%-40% full, and they just want the state to give them more money. The Republican plan, overall, on fiscal responsibility makes absolutely no sense, As a Democrat, I have taken on Phil Murphy on issues, but I'll tell you one issue he has led very well on, as has the Democratic leadership: making full pension payments and paying down a lot of debt. New Jersey has borrowed a lot of money in the last 40 years under Governors in both parties, Christie, Corzine, Whitman, it hasn't mattered. We’ve paid down hundreds of millions of dollars in debt for borrowing. We have restored a lot of that fiscal responsibility. There are opportunities to do fiscally responsible things. We need to emphasize the need to start consolidating some of these local areas for shared services, and I think that plays very well here in Monmouth County.”

Consolidation is a hard case to make when local pride (and local control) is on the line, but Gopal sees that as an opportunity for Sherrill to further distinguish and define herself as a leader willing to buck the establishment norms. “Mikie Sherrill showed courage. She is the first candidate ever in a debate to say the incentives may not be working, we need to start mandating some of this.”

The Monmouth-based senator referred to a piece of legislation he introduced which would consolidate school districts which have fewer than 500 students, demonstrating his support of Sherrill’s cost-saving strategy. “That is about a third of districts in the state. Superintendents, like Toms River’s, endorsed that plan immediately. These are areas where we could protect employees and, at the same time, mandate the sharing of healthcare, waste management, snow removal, IT, landscaping, and so many other services, trying to make sure we can get taxes lower for a lot of people. There's no reason that every town needs to have a municipal court or a lot of these services that we have right now which are expensive to operate. I think we can make a lot of changes in this area. I've had some very good conversations with the NJEA and other public employee unions, and they understand that. I believe we could do it humanely and responsibly.”

As Gopal continues to help guide the Sherrill campaign, attempting to bridge the critical divide between Democrats, independents, and Republicans who might not be sold on Ciattarelli, Monmouth County voters can be sure their voices will be courted and valued by both sides of the aisle—each with deep vested interests in preserving, consolidating, or expanding their political traction in the county—as election day draws ever-nearer. A Ciattarelli victory would represent a boon to the Republican establishment, and presumably reap rewards in Trenton. A Sherrill victory, in turn, would see LD-11’s state senator further elevated in the state’s political world, drawn close to the governor, and, likewise, Monmouth residents could expect to see greater influence and benefits brought to their seaside county via their elected representatives.