MONTCLAIR, New Jersey — The competition for the governorship of New Jersey intensified on Monday as Republican Jack Ciattarelli shared a video that allegedly captured his rival disparaging the state’s beloved breakfast staple.
“Who eats pork roll? I think that’s disgusting,” exclaimed Democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill during an episode of “The Zach Sang Show” last week, seemingly taking a jab at the cherished morning meat of Jersey.
In response, Ciattarelli transformed the moment into a campaign advertisement, which he posted on X, criticizing Sherrill’s Jersey roots—she was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and relocated to affluent Montclair in 2010.
“Hey Mikie. Show us you’re not from Jersey without saying you’re not from Jersey. You know what, don’t bother. You remind us daily in countless ways,” he remarked.
However, the Sherrill campaign, facing challenges in recent weeks due to her association with a cheating scandal at the Naval Academy, swiftly countered.
The complete podcast segment clarifies that she was actually critiquing the term “pork roll” rather than the product itself.
“Taylor ham or pork roll, what’s your choice?” Sang prompted Sherrill, who seemed to dismiss the question altogether.
“Come on, you’re from Wayne, it’s Taylor ham!” she asserted with conviction.
What could have been a devastating blow to Sherrill’s struggling campaign turned into yet another chapter in the ongoing breakfast sandwich debate that has divided New Jersey for over a century.
The longstanding Taylor ham versus pork roll controversy has split the state, with northerners favoring the former while Central and Southern Jerseyans passionately defend the latter.
The NJ Dems account on X couldn’t help but jump in, producing their own political ad featuring Ciattarelli claiming, “When I’m in South Jersey it’s pork roll, tomorrow in Bergen County it’ll be something else. But that’s what you have to do when running for governor.”
Taylor ham originated in Trenton in 1856, created by John Taylor. For years, it was sold as “Taylor’s Prepared Ham” until the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 determined it didn’t meet the legal definition of ham, requiring a name change to pork roll.
Pinpointing the exact geographic divide has proven difficult, but it appears to begin where Union County transitions into Middlesex County, near the southern edge of Staten Island.
NJ.com even developed a map attempting to illustrate what some refer to as “New Jersey’s Mason-Dixon Line.”
As a resident of Montclair, Sherrill finds herself squarely in Taylor ham territory.
Meanwhile, Ciattarelli’s home of Somerville is just south of the border where the beloved meat product is known as pork roll and never looks back.
