Jack Ciattarelli wins GOP primary for New Jersey governor, CNN projects

Jack Ciattarelli will win the Republican nomination for New Jersey governor, CNN projected Tuesday, setting him up to take on Gov. Phil Murphy in the fall.

Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman and the establishment-backed candidate, edged out three other Republican candidates -- engineer Hirsh Singh, pastor Phil Rizzo and former Franklin Mayor Brian Levine -- to win the party's nomination. While he was the front-runner in Tuesday's GOP contest, Ciattarelli now faces a battle against Murphy, the favorite in this year's race. The sitting governor, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, is well-positioned to break a New Jersey streak that began in 1989 of electing a governor from the party opposite of the sitting president, a year after Joe Biden won the state by 16 percentage points.