Longtime mayor of Long Beach Township Joseph Mancini is endorsing Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli in this year’s governor’s race because, he said, “Jack understands the Jersey Shore in ways our current governor and the Democratic candidate do not. He is invested in the shore; he owns a house in Surf City, so to him, living at the shore is not an abstract idea. It’s real to him as it is to millions of us.”

Mancini has been a vocal critic of Gov. Phil Murphy, offshore wind turbines, and the state Department of Environmental…