Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill wins New Jersey governor’s race

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mickey Sherrill was elected Tuesday as New Jersey’s governor, cementing Democratic control of a state that has been reliably blue in presidential and Senate elections but has shown signs of shifting rightward in recent years.

Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and four-term congressman, defeated Jack Ciattarelli, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.

The start of voting on Tuesday was disrupted after officials in seven counties received emailed bomb threats that law enforcement later determined were unfounded, said the state’s top elections official, Lt. Gov. Tahisha Way. A judge granted a one-hour extension at some polling places after Democrats filed a request for three schools that received email bomb threats earlier Tuesday.

Sherrill, 53, offers some reassurance to moderates within the Democratic Party as they navigate the path forward in next year’s midterm elections. Sherrill, a former prosecutor and military veteran, embodies a class of centrist Democrats who aim to appeal to some conservatives while still aligning themselves with some progressive causes. She campaigned on standing up to Trump and blaming voters’ concerns about the economy on his tariffs.

Live results: New Jersey 2025 gubernatorial election

She will be the second woman to serve as governor of New Jersey, after Republican Christine Todd Whitmer, who served from 1994 to 2001. Her victory also gives Democrats three consecutive victories in New Jersey’s gubernatorial elections, marking the first time in six decades that either major party has achieved three victories.

Ciattarelli lost his second straight election for governor after coming within a few points of defeating incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago.

The individual gubernatorial race in New Jersey, one of only two this year along with Virginia, often hinges on local issues such as property taxes. But the campaign also served as a potential barometer of national sentiment, especially how voters will react to the president’s second term and Democrats’ messaging ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

In the final weeks of the campaign, Sherrill criticized the president’s threat to cancel a project to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River to replace old and decaying tubes now used by trains heading to and from New York City. She also pledged to order a freeze on electric utility rates, which have recently risen.

Sherrill takes over the governorship after serving four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. She won the position in 2018 during Trump’s first term, flipping a district long held by the GOP in an election that saw Democrats sweep all but one of the state’s 12 House seats.

During her campaign, Sherrill placed a strong emphasis on her credentials as a congresswoman and prosecutor, as well as her military service. But she was also forced to defend her Navy service record after a news report that she was not allowed to participate in her 1994 graduation ceremony from the U.S. Naval Academy in connection with the school’s academic cheating scandal.

Cheryl said the punishment was a result of some of her colleagues not turning in, not because she cheated. But she declined to release additional records that Ciattarelli’s campaign said would shed more light on the issue.

For her part, Ciattarelli has been accused of profiting from the opioid crisis. He is the former owner of a medical publishing company that produced continuing education materials for physicians, including some that discuss pain management and opioids. Sherrill called it “propaganda” for pharmaceutical companies, which Ciattarelli denied.

Sherrill will inherit a state budget that has ballooned under Murphy, who has made good on promises to fund the public-employee pension fund and the K-12 school aid formula after years of neglect under previous governors, with high income taxes on the wealthy. But there are also headwinds that include unfunded promises to continue the property tax relief program started in the governor’s second term.

The elections also included all 80 Assembly seats, which Democrats control with a majority of 52 seats.

New Jersey has not supported a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate or the White House in decades. However, the governor’s office often switches back and forth between the two parties. The last time the same party won New Jersey’s third consecutive election for governor was in 1961, when Richard Hughes won the race to succeed Governor Robert Miner. Both were Democrats.

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