Ciattarelli and Sherrill Share their Visions for Manufacturing

By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor On Oct 3, 2025

New Jersey gubernatorial candidates Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill can both agree on one thing: manufacturing remains a critical industry in New Jersey. With 10,000 manufacturing companies employing more than 252,000 people across the state, the industry contributes more than $58 billion to the state’s annual GDP.

Today at the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program’s (NJMEP) ‘MADE in NJ’ Manufacturing Day in Freehold – the state’s largest annual gathering of manufacturers, industry leaders, students, and public officials – both candidates shared how they plan to support this vital industry.

Ciattarelli emphasized the importance of competitiveness, namely via tax and regulatory cuts, and energy independence, to make New Jersey a more attractive location for manufacturing and other businesses.

“Manufacturing won’t be able to grow and prosper – and we won’t be able to recruit new manufacturers – as long as we have a property tax price and electricity cost crisis here in New Jersey,” said Ciattarelli.

On property and income tax, he cited Pennsylvania’s flat tax of 3% on personal income compared to New Jersey’s highest bracket of 10.75%. He also pointed to Pennsylvania’s property taxes, which he said are about $3,000 less per-home than New Jersey’s.

“Pennsylvania decided to be more regionally competitive by lowering their business tax from 10(%) to 5,” Ciattarelli said.
”While they were doing that, [New Jersey] raised its business tax from 9 to 11.5 – the highest in the nation. … If [Pennsylvania] can do it, we can do it too. I want to compete. We’ve got to compete.”

Ciattarelli added that he also wants to create a Department of Commerce, which he believes can, among other things, contribute to solving some of manufacturing’s workforce challenges by better deploying the federal dollars that the state gets for workforce development.

“Why aren’t more of those dollars dedicated to our technical institutes where people learn a trade? No matter where I go across the state, there is a shortage of people in the trades, and that’s particularly important for the manufacturer space,” Ciattarelli said. “So, let’s find a different way to deploy our federal dollars to get a better return on investment.”

“On day one of my administration, we are going to make a loud and clear statement that we are pro-business,” he said. “The state agencies will not be a police state or a collection agency or delay you. They will be partners.”

Sherrill, a congresswoman representing New Jersey’s 11th District since 2019, said she supports strengthening American manufacturing through federal funding, investments in technology, and policy aimed at countering “unfair” foreign trade practices.

A key area of her focus is supporting the state’s manufacturing sector by securing federal grants for programs that boost local innovation and job creation, an area in which she believes she excels given her experience in Washington.

“It is going to be critically important that you have a governor that understands the federal landscape as well as the state landscape,” she said.

In 2024, Sherrill helped secure a $2 million federal grant for NJMEP to lead a multi-state network focused on bolstering defense and green energy supply chains.

“I’ll streamline and simplify the business approvals process and overhaul the state permitting process to reduce the costs and delays that are holding up manufacturing projects,” Sherrill said. “I’ll make permitting timelines available to you in an online dashboard, so you can see where you are in the process, and I, as governor, can track it to make sure people are accountable to you in the public.”

She added that she also wants to reduce how long it takes for a new business to receive a license.

“It is too expensive to operate in New Jersey and it is making it hard for our manufacturers to compete,” Sherrill said.

She added that permitting delays remain the major issue driving companies to build manufacturing plants outside of New Jersey.

“When I asked them, ‘Is it taxes?’ ‘Is it because of the high cost of living?’ They said no, it’s permitting delays. I can be cutting a ribbon on a plant in Pennsylvania before I can even get through the permitting process here in New Jersey,” Sherrill said.

On energy prices, Ciattarelli added that if elected governor, he would pull out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on day one, which he said could save $500 million in electricity for homeowners, tenants and businesses.

“We will expand our nuclear footprint in South Jersey, we’ll accelerate solar on the rooftops of our warehouse space across the state, and we will become an electricity producer again with the goal by the end of my first term to become an electricity exporter again,” he said.

Sherrill said that she is committed to declaring a State of Emergency on utility prices on day one in order to freeze rate hikes for ratepayers.

She said she wants to build out New Jersey’s energy arsenal to lower prices in the long term, including building new, cheaper, and cleaner energy generation, expanding storage capacity, and modernizing existing natural gas facilities to make them cleaner and more efficient.

“We need to produce power here in our state,” Sherrill said.

“Permitting is too slow and unpredictable, taxes and fees are prohibitively expensive, energy costs are skyrocketing, and workforce development programs aren’t well coordinated or accessible,” Sherrill continued. “Fixing this is going to involve collaboration with our manufacturing community, and I promise I’ll work with you to help solve these problems.”

“The only way out of the great fiscal challenges we face in our state government in Trenton is by growing the economy,” Ciattarelli said. “And the best way to grow the economy is by electing a pro-business governor who brings in a pro-business administration and then adopts pro-business policies. I refuse to be the governor of a state that’s ranked year over year over year as one of the worst places in the country in which to do business.”

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