With less than four weeks to go until the New Jersey gubernatorial election, Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli says that he believes that voters want a change from Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Ciattarelli s crisscrossing the state campaigning, as polls show that as much as half of New Jersey voters don’t even know who he is. He made his case to voters at a Town Hall meeting in Jackson Township on Wednesday evening.

“I’m on a mission. Like all of you, I want to get rid of this virus so we can get rid of the masks – and in 27 days, my goal is to get rid of Phil Murphy,” Ciattarelli said.

He told the attendees, “Anything and everything that we can do to make life a little easier here in New Jersey, I’m all for.”

Ocean County is a Republican stronghold in the state, so it is no surprise that Ciattarelli held a town hall in Jackson. But what might be surprising is that former Republican President Donald Trump’s name did not come up once at the event.

“Trump is no longer our president. This is all about New Jersey. Talking about Trump is not going to solve a property tax crisis,” Ciattarelli said. “Talking about Trump is not going to make this a better place to do business.”

At last month’s debate Gov. Murphy sought to link Ciattarelli to Trump, by saying that Ciattarelli attended a “Stop the Steal” rally. Ciattarelli says he voted for Trump in 2020 but that President Joe Biden won the election fair and square.

Ciattarelli also commented on race relations and immigration. He said that if he is elected, New Jersey schools won’t teach critical race theory.

“We should not be encouraging illegal immigration at all. And not to New Jersey with sanctuary cities and sanctuary state,” he said.

He also commented on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“When we win this election, I’ll work with the Legislature to curtail the governor’s executive powers. I don’t think any governor should be able to declare a state of emergency beyond six months,” he said.

With 1 million more Democrats than Republicans in the state, political experts say that Ciattarelli has been the underdog since the beginning of the election. He is hoping the polls showing a tightening race are correct.

“The job of an elected official is to listen,” Ciattarelli said.

The deadline to register to vote is Tuesday, Oct. 12. Election Day is Nov. 2.