Bill Spadea: Current Republican runner-up for the NJ governor primary

Bill Spadea: Meet the candidates for NJ governor

New Jersey Now sits down with Republican gubernatorial candidate and conservative talk radio host Bill Spadea, who discusses his views on Trump’s use of executive orders, immigration policies, affordability and cost of living issues, along with his relationship with the president.

NEW JERSEY - A recent poll revealed conservative talk radio host Bill Spadea is the current runner-up for the New Jersey Governor Republican primary, coming in with the support of 18% of surveyed GOP voters.

This marks Spadea's third race for political office.

Who is Bill Spadea?

The backstory:

Bill Spadea was born and raised in Camden County, New Jersey, and graduated from Boston University in 1991. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines after graduating from college, and served eight years before receiving an honorable discharge.

Running for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District in 2004, Spadea also ran for the state's 16th District's Assembly seat after the death of then-Assemblymember Pete Biondi. Spadea lost both of these races.

Bill Spadea performs onstage during "An Evening of Comedy Starring Joe Gorga" at Harrah's Resort on August 17, 2024 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Manny Carabel/Getty Images)

He began hosting the morning drive show on New Jersey 101.5 in 2015, and only just left the show to run for governor; he was also the host of "Chasing News with Bill Spadea" for seven years, before the program ended in 2020.

Announcing his gubernatorial run

What we know:

Spadea announced his run for New Jersey governor on June 17, 2024.

You can find an entire list of New Jersey gubernatorial candidates here.

Current platform

The primary issues Spadea is focusing on for his gubernatorial campaign include immigration policies for the state, as well as affordability.

Spadea specifically mentioned he would rescind New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive, an act passed in 2018 that limited New Jersey’s involvement in the federal detention and deportation system.

When asked what the role of the governor is regarding immigration, Spadea said "100 percent cooperation with [Border Czar] Tom Homan and President Trump."

Turning to affordability, Spadea pointed to school choice. "Parents don't have a choice in education right now, and it's driving up our costs," he said, before noting that he would force towns to "pull out the education portion of the property tax bill."