well now that Ciattarelli has firmly planted his flag in the gubinatorial race he joins a crowded field of contenders we mentioned Republican John bramnick who is so far Cedar's biggest competitor in the primary but also Democrats Steve Fulop Ras Baraka and Steve Sweeney that list is only expected to grow making it a much different playing field than the election four years ago so does a center right candidate like chedell have a clear path forward I asked Micah Rasmussen Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey politics at Rider University so Micah good to have you as always uh especially on a day like this this has now become an increasingly widen field what do you make so far of the cast of candidates we have well it's a very full field that we're talking about both on the Republican side and the Democratic side um that's developing voters are going to have a lot of choices and if we wind up with another primary next year that doesn't have the line then this really is going to be the voter's choice and they're going to get a full range of options uh Jack Jack Ciattarelli seems to be carving out a um center right position but you're going to have candidates to the right of him maybe like Bill spadia and candidates to the left of him like John bramnick so I think they're going to get a full range of options yeah does not having the line hurt a candidate like chedell more I mean he's someone who picked up all 21 Republican party organization in endorsements back in the last race in 2021 it's a very good point and a great question I think he will be strong enough given his Statewide name recognition that he will do well either under a line system or without one um he'll sort of rise to the top of the pack just because people know a lot about him this is his third run um for governor Statewide so um I think he'll do well under either rules but as you say he probably has the most to lose given that he has those relationships with every County organization and has maintained them has really gotten around the state for these last 2 and a half years and the four years before that yeah I mean I've been seeing since his announcement and we've been talking about of course he's been this sort of candidate that hasn't gone away for lack of a better word I mean he's got a lot more at stake when you look at it from through that lens but how does he differentiate himself from someone like a John bramnick who I am guessing he's the two are going to be compared uh the most yes so even last last night uh during his announcement he tried to draw some parallels he said that bramnick uh works too closely with Democrats he said you know he all but said this is a guy who voted for Matt platkin as attorney general voted to confirm him and so that's really a message for the more right uh it is uh members of the party yes so I think he's going to try to make himself um a little bit to the right of bramnick but not as far as spia he's going to go for that center right uh positioning if he can get away with it what does he need to do with his messaging when it comes to Donald Trump well he he's thrown himself in he's endorsed Trump um and so you're going to have a never Trumper in the race you're going to have bramnick who very clearly has said that this is not the direction for New Jersey New Jersey Republicans and you're going to have Ciattarelli who has said I am endorsing him um I am supporting him I am throwing myself in with him so a lot depends on who wins this presidential race um if it's Trump there's almost certain going to be New Jersey becomes almost the first um uh midterm state right we become the first state where we have the earliest midterm election that's an interesting way to put it yeah yeah um okay so if we look at these candidates as a whole and we know that the pendulum tends to swing from Democrat to Republican after Murphy having served eight years um what's the path forward then for someone like chedell I mean you said he's got to sort of differentiate himself but folks in New Jersey do like moderates they do and you heard some of that last night he tried to speak to property tax freezes well that sounded a lot like the Democrats platform from 2023 which didn't go so well for Republicans last year he also had a little bit of uh tilting at the windmills not to you know not that he's Don kote but um and he was back on the parental rights stuff so again that cycle didn't go so well for Republicans he's going to have to make a a more compelling case uh for why that would be different than what we had last year in districts it didn't go so well for Republicans it's going to even be in more uphill climb to run Statewide on those kinds of issues that didn't play districtwide and we'll remind everyone this is still a year away more than in 2025 Micah thanks so much for coming in appreciate it