Mikie Sherrill defeats Jack Ciattarelli and will be the next governor of New Jersey
The congresswoman edged out her Republican rival in a race that was not as tight as polls had indicated.
Sherrill during a campaign rally/ Edit from screenshot.
Mikie Sherrill will be the next governor of New Jersey. The Democratic congresswoman defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli, in an election that was not as close as polls had indicated.
With just over 50% of the vote, Decision Desk HQ declared the 53-year-old Democratic congresswoman the winner of the race. Her electoral strategy was to nationalize the election, linking Ciattarelli to President Donald Trump at every turn.
Sherrill was the second woman to be elected governor on Tuesday night. The first was Abigail Spanberger, also a Democrat, who won the election in Virginia.
Ciattarelli campaigned by focusing on local issues, such as high taxes and the high cost of living in the state. It was the third consecutive gubernatorial campaign for the Republican: 2018, 2021 and 2025.
Who is Mikie Sherrill?
A graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy, Mikie Sherrill served nearly ten years in the U.S. Navy, where she was a helicopter pilot and later an intelligence liaison officer. She was inspired to serve by her grandfather, who was a pilot during World War II. After leaving active duty, she studied law at Georgetown and worked as an assistant federal prosecutor in New Jersey, investigating crimes related to drug trafficking and gun violence.
Her debut in politics began in 2018, when she led one of the most closely watched Democratic campaigns in the country. That year, she won New Jersey's 11th congressional district, a Republican stronghold since the 1980s. Sherrill's victory, by nearly 15 percentage points over Republican Jay Webber, was part of the 'blue wave' that allowed Democrats to regain control of the House of Representatives after eight years.
After seven years in Washington DC, she ran for governor with a pragmatic profile highlighting her military background.
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