TOMS RIVER, NJ – Former New Jersey 101.5 radio host Bill Spadea appears to be chickening out of competing against Jack Ciattarelli and John Bramnick to win the official Republican county nominations in this year’s Republican primary election.
Spadea alerted state and county GOP officials this week that he will not attend the state’s 21 county GOP conventions to compete for the vote of Republican leaders and elected county committees.
Spadea claims he is following Donald Trump’s footsteps by taking his vote “to the people” of New Jersey. Still, even Trump went through the official and grueling nominating process to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024.
Carlos Cruz, a spokesperson for Kitchen Table Conservatives, a PAC run by former Trump Administration Special Counselor Kellyanne Conway, says Spadea is afraid to sit face-to-face with Republican leadership in New Jersey because he will have to face tough questions regarding multiple comments he has made against the former President.
At county conventions, elected Republican community leaders, county committees, and local Republican club leaders cast a public ballot to determine who gets the official Republican party endorsement in each county.
While Spadea now says he fully supports Trump, he had attacked President Trump repeatedly while the President was battling illegal lawfare campaigns against him in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Georgia.
“I think President Trump failed. His presidency was a failure,” Spadea said. “Donald Trump was part of the problem..but his time has passed…I do not want President Trump to run again.”
Cruz says Spadea is backing out of the conventions because he’s afraid he might lose them.
“Bill Spadea’s brutal 2025 continues. After it was revealed Spadea viciously attacked President Trump, calling him a failure and that he supported amnesty for illegals, Spadea’s fundraising fell off a cliff. And now it’s clear Spadea’s political support has cratered with his announcement he is skipping the Republican county conventions, a key step in the primary election process,” Cruz said. “But then again – if we were under fire for attacking Trump, supporting amnesty, and struggling to raise money, we’d be afraid to face activists too.”
Now Spadea is calling the official New Jersey GOP nomination process for governor a rigged process.
“For decades, candidates for office have followed the orders of party bosses and abided by the convention process because the ‘County Line’ impacted the outcome of elections and required it,” Spadea said.
Spadea’s crowds have also dwindled since facing criticism for his past comments against Trump. Roughly two dozen people attended an advertised town hall in Cape May with Spadea.
“Bill Spadea’s decision to blow off GOP county convention is a slap in the face to thousands of conservative, pro-Trump delegates who fellow Republicans elected,” said his opponent, Jack Ciattarelli. “Not surprising given the endless stream of videos of him trashing President Trump and touting his support for mass amnesty.”
Ciattarelli hit the former shock jock, saying, “A phony and a fraud. Spadea’s decision and inability to raise money are proof his campaign is floundering.”