TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill was elected governor of New Jersey on Tuesday, raising hopes among Democrats and highlighting Republican vulnerabilities after signs of a rightward shift in a reliably blue state in recent years.
Sherrill, a former Marine helicopter pilot and four-time congresswoman, defeated Jack Ciattarelli, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, and quickly turned her victory slow Tuesday into a referendum on the Republican president and some of his policies — from health care to immigration to the economy.
“We here in New Jersey must fight for a different future for our children,” Sherrill told her supporters who gathered to celebrate her victory. “We see the importance of freedom. We know that no one in our great state is safe when our neighbors are targeted and disregard the law and the Constitution.” She was on stage with her husband and children.
Sherrill, 53, offers some reassurance to moderates within the Democratic Party as they chart the path for next year’s midterm elections. Sherrill, a former prosecutor and military veteran, and Abigail Spanberger, the other Democrat elected governor of Virginia, embody a brand of centrist Democrats who aim to appeal to some conservatives while still aligning themselves with some progressive causes. Sherrill campaigned to defy Trump and blame voters’ concerns about the economy on his tariffs.
Ciattarelli called Sherrill to congratulate her on the results and did not mention Trump in his speech.
“I hope Mikie Sherrill listened to us about what we need to do to make New Jersey a place where everyone can once again feel like they can achieve their American dream,” Ciattarelli said.
The start of voting on Tuesday was interrupted after officials in seven counties received emailed bomb threats that law enforcement later determined were unfounded, said the state’s top election official, Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. A judge granted a one-hour extension at some polling locations after Democrats filed a motion Tuesday on behalf of three schools that received the threats.
Sherrill marks milestones
She will be the second governor of New Jersey, after Republican Christine Todd Whitman, who served between 1994 and 2001. Her victory also gives Democrats three straight victories in New Jersey’s gubernatorial election, the first time in six decades that either major party has achieved a three-way victory.
Ciattarelli lost his second straight general election after coming within a few points of defeating incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago.
The New Jersey gubernatorial race, one of only two this year along with Virginia, has often hinged on local issues such as property taxes. But the campaign also served as a potential gauge of national sentiment, particularly how voters are reacting to the president’s second term and Democrats’ messaging ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association, praised Sherrill’s victory as “a roadmap for how Democrats can overcome precedent and win hard-fought races if we remain focused on our positive vision of tackling the biggest issues affecting families in their daily lives.”
A victory against Trump
In her speech Tuesday, Sherrill said voters are concerned about attacks on their civil liberties and economic well-being. She said Trump is “tearing away” health care and targeting food benefits. Democratic governors across the country are pushing back against these issues as well as planned National Guard deployments to their states.
Sherrill also criticized him for something that specifically affects New Jersey: the cancellation of a project to expand rail access to New York City. In the final weeks of the campaign, she criticized the president’s threat to cancel the Hudson River project.
“Governors have never been more important,” Sherrill said. “And in this state, I am determined to create prosperity for all of us.”
From the Navy to the Governor’s Office
Sherrill assumes the role of governor after serving four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She won that post in 2018 during Trump’s first term, flipping a longstanding district controlled by the Republican Party in an election in which Democrats captured all but one of the state’s 12 House seats.
During her campaign, Sherrill relied heavily on her credentials as a congresswoman and former prosecutor, as well as her military service. But she also had to defend her Navy service after news reports that she was barred from attending the U.S. Naval Academy’s 1994 graduation ceremony amid an academic cheating scandal at the school.
Sherrill said the punishment was because she failed to report some classmates, not because she cheated herself. But she declined to release additional records that the Ciattarelli campaign said would shed more lithe on the issue.
For her part, she accused Ciattarelli of profiting from the opioid crisis. He is the former owner of a medical publishing company that published educational materials for physicians, including on pain management and opioids. Sherrill called it “propaganda” for pharmaceutical companies, which Ciattarelli denied.
Promise for New Jersey
Sherrill will inherit a state budget that has grown under Murphy, who has followed through on promises to fund the public employee pension fund and a relief formula for K-12 schools after years of neglect under previous governors through high income taxes on the wealthy. But there are also headwinds, including unfunded promises to continue a property tax relief program started in the governor’s second term.
Also on the ballot Tuesday were all 80 Assembly seats, which Democrats control with a 52-seat majority.
New Jersey hasn’t supported a Republican for the U.S. Senate or White House in decades. However, the governor’s office often switched back and forth between parties. The last time the same party prevailed in a third consecutive New Jersey gubernatorial election was in 1961, when Richard Hughes won the race to succeed Gov. Robert Meyner. Both were Democrats.
