As shocking as it sounded amid the gloves-off debate this week, Democrat Mikie Sherrill was not breaking new ground when she attacked Republican Jack Ciattarelli for profiting from the opioid crisis when he owned a medical publishing company.

The state Democratic Committee raised this charge in Ciattarelli’s 2021 race against Gov. Phil Murphy.

“Jack Ciattarelli made millions misleading people about the risks of opioids," said the narrator in a 30-second spot that aired in that contest. “The cost: thousands of New Jersey families devastated by opioid abuse. He profited while New Jersey families suffered.”

But the four-term congresswoman from Montclair, whose single-digit lead shrunk to a virtual tie in one recent independent poll, reframed an negative attack into a nuclear one.

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