October 20, 2025
Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com/USA TODAY NETWOR
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor, will face Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the Nov. 4 election. Above, Sherrill sits for an Oct. 9 interview with the USA TODAY Network New Jersey Editorial Board.
In New Jersey's contentious race for governor, Democratic U.S. Rep.Mikie Sherrill has campaigned on promises to make the state more affordable for families and defend the rights of residents from encroachment by the Trump administration.
The former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor is now in her fourth term representing the state's 11th District, which covers parts of four counties in North Jersey. Sherrill is facing off against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, the Trump-backed businessman and former member of the State Assembly making his third run for governor. Ciattarelli narrowly lost four years ago to Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term limited.
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After cruising to victory over five other Democrats in May's gubernatorial primary, Sherrill vowed to address the state's rising costs of housing and utilities. The Montclair native says it has become too difficult for people to plant roots in New Jersey.
"Housing costs are up over 50 percent in just the past five years – making homeownership inaccessible for so many families," Sherrill said during a meeting this month with realtors and homebuilders. “That will change when I’m governor."
Sherrill, 53, aims to expand New Jersey's housing supply, retain property tax relief programs for older residents and expand assistance for first-time home buyers. To spur housing development, she has called for more transit-oriented projects and state collaboration with municipalities to redevelop underutilized strip malls and office parks.
Ciattarelli, whose 10-point affordability plan calls for capping and reforming property taxes, contends New Jersey has an "overdevelopment crisis" in suburban communities. He has called for expanding affordable housing in urban centers, claiming more homes in cities would benefit the state's economic hubs.
To address rising electricity costs in New Jersey, Sherrill says she will declare a state of emergency to freeze utility rates for one year. The state's 22% increase in electricity costs from last year is among the highest in the country, and New Jersey is among a swath of 10 states in the region that have battled with grid operator PJM Interconnection over rising costs. Sherrill's plan calls for investing in more solar and nuclear energy projects, including the construction of a long-debated plant in Salem County.
Ciattarelli criticized Sherrill's proposed state of emergency as an "illegitimate plan" that may not be in the governor's power and lacks political support in the General Assembly.
During her gubernatorial campaign, Sherrill has faced questions over her military record following the release of her service documents from the National Archives in September. The documents show Sherrill was not permitted to walk at her 1994 graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy because she refused to turn in other midshipmen who had been implicated in a cheating scandal. None of the documents show that Sherrill cheated at the academy, and the records reflect she had an otherwise clean Navy career that included receiving a medal in 1991 for saving the life of a classmate.
The federal government attributed the release of the documents to a technician's error, but Sherrill has since called for an investigation into whether a request was made by allies of Ciattarelli with support from the Trump administration.
The closing stretch of the governor's race has featured two heated debates between Sherrill and Ciattarelli and a barrage of negative campaign ads. In the second debate, Sherrill claimed her opponent was responsible for thousands of deaths as a result of his former medical publishing company spreading misinformation about the safety of opioid medications.
“You killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill said.
Ciattarelli, who has since threatened to sue Sherrill for her debate remarks, fired back by claiming Sherrill has been soft on immigration and has supported sanctuary policies in Democratic cities. Sherrill has said she will uphold the U.S. Constitution when it comes to local police departments assisting with federal immigration enforcement. During remarks at a town hall in October, Sherrill said she would sue the Trump administration if National Guard troops are sent to New Jersey cities amid expanding deployments to other parts of the country.
Sherrill's other campaign promises include investments in improving the reliability of NJ Transit, increasing the transparency of health care costs and expanding child care services for parents.
New Jersey's gubernatorial race is viewed as a potential test of voter attitudes toward the Trump administration ahead of next year's midterm elections. With Murphy's second term coming to an end, Sherrill is up against a long-running trend in New Jersey politics: no party has won three consecutive gubernatorial elections since 1961.
With about two weeks to go before the Nov. 4 election, Sherrill holds a 4-point advantage over Ciattarelli in an average of polls tracked by RealClearPolitics. In 2021, Murphy entered the election with a nearly 8-point edge but only won by a margin of 3.2 percentage points.
