he bills himself as the funniest lawyer in New Jersey and now state Senator John bramnick is officially the first Republican to announce his candidacy for governor bramnick launched his 2025 campaign during a splashy event on Saturday at a comedy club in New Brunswick where he occasionally performs standup bramnick is a moderate longtime lawmaker and vocal Trump critic a senior political correspondent David Cruz reports he's also likely to be a formidable candidate it's called Uber you got to have a sense of humor to run for office in New Jersey where politicians are most often funny when they're not trying to be in declaring for the Republican gubernatorial primary this week Senator John bramnick was a little more serious than usual I do not fear speaking out against those who dwell in hate and ridicule I have no fear of those who act like out of control High School bullies on social media there's going to be plenty of time for funny and I think there were probably three or four lines that were funny but you know it is it's serious and with a crowd of close to 300 including a couple of County chairs and some other big-time State GOP names serious is what many observers were saying today you know usually we're used to seeing a a sparse room full of people um he had um luminaries from within the National Party he had supporters um this was a nice roll out for him and it's actually a pretty good time to be a republican gubernatorial candidate you have a lame duck Democrat heading into a year where a hyped up electorate could experience some economic stress from Fair increases and tax increases and maybe a roll back of some State services and New Jersey rarely elects a governor from the same party three times in a row New Jersey is known as a blue State and like you know where we end up electing a republican is when there's a certain connection Beyond party and we've seen that happen before with Christy Whitman I think more appropo to this is uh Chris Christie political consultant James G says bramnick like ability he's buddies with Chris Christie and Phil Murphy will go a long way in the primary even though he'll be staking out the moderate ground that the as yet to declare Jack chiarelli also hopes to occupy the Republican nominee last time got really close and that that he is a certain for a repeat but this entry to the race could make things more interesting bramnick and Chelli are likely to face a challenge from the party's rightwing which totaled close to 49% of the primary vote in 2021 it now looks like the moderates might be duking it out and might be splitting up their vote and and give the right a solid path forward so um you know that's that's a very good question is how they navigate that and figure that out bramnick is the loudest anti-trumper in the state GOP he says voters will always know where he stands on that issue as opposed to Chelli who's still workshopping his message on that are you a Donald Trump supporter I won't be voting for Joe Biden and um but listen I want to be governor and there's a good chance Donald Trump might be the president bramnick is a pretty mainstream guy he says open to compromise and always talking about Civility and balance in government policy-wise he says he's a low taxes Pro bus and pro-choice Republican a touch of Tom Kane senior a dash of Christy Whitman and maybe a pinch of Chris Christie light I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news