Mikie Sherrill’s Wild, Dangerous Claim About Jack Ciattarelli

New Jersey Monitor

October 13, 2025

NEW BRUNSWICK — Mikie Sherrill went in for the kill Wednesday night by accusing Jack Ciattarelli of being a killer.

The shocking moment came about 40 minutes into the final gubernatorial debate between Sherrill, a congresswoman and Democrat, and Ciattarelli, a Republican trying for the third time to make it to Drumthwacket.

A moderator had just asked the would-be governors how they would bring jobs to New Jersey. Sherrill used her answer to question Ciattarelli’s bona fides as a businessman and claim he made millions publishing propaganda for the opioid industry. And then:

“I think you’re trying to divert from the fact that you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill said to him. “Families across this state deserve to know more about that.”

It’s not quite the first time this type of accusation has been lobbed during a New Jersey gubernatorial debate — just four years ago, Ciattarelli laid responsibility for nursing home deaths during the pandemic at Gov. Phil Murphy’s feet — but the personal nature of the allegation was stunning. I asked Ciattarelli about it after the debate.

“Another desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate. It’s a lie,” he said.

Some of Sherrill’s accusations appear related to a 2021 Star-Ledger story by Ted Sherman about Ciattarelli’s medical publishing firm, which published material for medical professionals licensed and accredited by the University of Tennessee and funded with grants from the pharmaceutical industry. One of those pieces said the risk of opioid misuse is low among patients with chronic pain but no preexisting substance abuse disorders. Ciattarelli sold the firm in 2017.

Another part of Sherrill’s claim is that Ciattarelli helped develop an app “so that people who were addicted could more easily get access to opioids.” Ciattarelli’s company did indeed team up with a company called ProPatient in 2016 to establish what it called an “innovative, responsive online resource” called Living with Pain that offered to help patients suffering from chronic pain “engage my care team when I feel they are reluctant to help.”

Still, Sherrill’s on-air accusation was not just that Ciattarelli was in bed with opioid manufacturers or that Ciattarelli helped get more people addicted to deadly opioids. Her overall claim, which she made twice, was that Jack Ciattarelli killed tens of thousands of people. I’m struggling to think of a more inflammatory, irresponsible allegation aired during a political debate.

After the sparring session, Sherrill defended her remarks to reporters.

“I think he’s responsible for publicizing the propaganda from opioid companies when he was saying opioids were safe and the publishing company was saying they were safe and people were dying,” she said.

I wish she had stopped there. That claim is more defensible than the one that Ciattarelli killed tens of thousands of New Jerseyans, including children, via his medical publishing company.

Last weekend, the race to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy (D) entered silly season when Ciattarelli’s campaign clipped a Sherrill interview to make it sound like she doesn’t like pork roll. On Wednesday night, I fear, we entered a far more dangerous stage of the campaign. I worry about what comes next.

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