Republican Assemblyman, Governor Candidate Reveals He Has Cancer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ - South Brunswick's Republican state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli — who announced last fall he is running for New Jersey governor — revealed Thursday he has neck cancer.

Ciattarelli told the Philadelphia Inquirer Trenton State House reporter he underwent surgery in November to remove cancer and lymph nodes from his neck. Ciattarelli said he noticed a lump on his neck in October and was soon diagnosed with cancer of the tongue, throat and tonsils. Since then, he has been receiving radiation treatments five days a week, which he expects to wrap up by the end of the month.

Ciattarelli, 55, is from Somerset County and represents New Jersey's Legislative District 16, which includes parts of Middlesex, Hunterdon, Somerset and Mercer counties. Towns he represents include South Brunswick, Princeton, Montgomery, Hillsborough, Millstone (Somerset), Flemington and Branchburg. He announced in September he was seeking the Republican nomination for New Jersey Governor. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said Thursday she is also running. Businessman Joseph Rudy Rullo has already declared, and Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. has also been named as a possible GOP contender.

Ciattarelli was one of the few New Jersey Republicans to come out against Donald Trump, calling him an "embarrassment" and a "charlatan."

He told the reporter he would continue campaigning for the governor's job, but some people would campaign on his behalf for a few events in January.

"It was important to me that I be fully transparent with my health and shoot straight with both voters and the media about my condition," he said, according to Philly.com. "One, because honesty matters when you aspire to being governor of New Jersey. And, two, because I am hopeful that my story encourages someone else to get any suspicious lumps or sudden an unusual snoring checked out immediately."

The general election for New Jersey governor is November 7, 2017. The primary is in June.