Mikie Sherrill wins New Jersey governor race, defeats Ciattarelli

The Fox Information Resolution Desk predicted that New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill will develop into New Jersey’s subsequent governor, leaving the state blue in its presidential race towards Republican candidate Jack Ciatarelli.

By defeating Ciatarelli in a extremely aggressive and explosive race that drew important nationwide consideration, Sherrill will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Sherrill has served within the U.S. Home of Representatives since 2019, after flipping the Backyard State’s eleventh District seat from Republicans throughout President Donald Trump’s first time period within the White Home as a part of the 2018 blue wave election yr. Sherrill made historical past as the primary lady to characterize the northern New Jersey suburb.

“We have seen rallies with hundreds of individuals. The early voting, the mail-in voting, may be very, excellent,” a assured Sherrill instructed reporters on Election Day after casting her vote. “I believe I will do very well right this moment.”

SHERRILL GOES OUT ALL WITH OBAMA APPROVAL, PUSHING STAR-CURRENT NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN AS RACE TURNS UP

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill leaves a voting sales space after casting her vote on Election Day, November 4, 2025, in Montclair, New Jersey. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox Information Digital)

The New Jersey Democrat campaigned on a variety of key points, most notably affordability in a state infamous for sky-high taxes. Sherrill made the case in the course of the marketing campaign that she would decrease prices for Backyard State households, together with by working to finish “worth gouging” and “preventing for tax reduction, decreasing well being care and vitality prices.”

She additionally pledged to guard entry to abortion, pledged to construct extra “new properties that meet the wants of all residents” amid a housing disaster, and shut the schooling hole amongst New Jersey’s extremely ranked public colleges in sure zip codes and districts which have struggled following the 2020 pandemic.

“I come from a special form of background, so I might be a special form of governor,” Sherrill instructed voters in October in her opening assertion forward of her second gubernatorial debate. “Navy helicopter pilot, federal prosecutor, member of Congress and mom of 4, I am centered on decreasing your prices and making New Jersey extra reasonably priced. … I am going to ensure I at all times struggle for all of you.”

Consultant Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor in New Jersey, greets voters at a senior middle in Elizabeth, New Jersey, October 29, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox Information)

Sherrill is a Naval Academy graduate and former Sea King helicopter pilot who spent greater than 9 years on lively responsibility within the Navy. Based on her congressional biography, she left the Military in 2003 with the rank of lieutenant and went to regulation college.

The Democrat introduced her candidacy for governor of New Jersey in November 2024 sporting a Navy jacket as she touted her readiness to “work on New Jersey’s future.”

She additionally labored as a prosecutor within the days main as much as her leap into politics. She earned her regulation diploma from Georgetown College earlier than working at a regulation agency in New York Metropolis and becoming a member of the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in New Jersey as a federal prosecutor in 2015, in keeping with her congressional biography.

FINAL FACEOFF: DEMOCRATIC, REPUBLICAN NOMINEES IN KEY RACE FOR GOVERNOR LEAVE EACH OTHER IN DEBATE

After taking the lead in a aggressive subject of rivals in June’s Democratic gubernatorial major, he ran within the normal election towards Ciatarelli, a former licensed public accountant who later owned a medical publishing firm earlier than coming into politics and serving as a state lawmaker.

Ciatarelli first ran for governor in 2017 and completed second within the GOP major. And 4 years in the past, after clinching the Republican nomination, he got here near ousting Murphy, falling simply three share factors quick.

Within the latter a part of this yr’s marketing campaign, Ciatarelli closed the electoral hole towards Sherrill however failed to color the blue-leaning state crimson.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciatarelli speaks with supporters at a tavern in Totowa, New Jersey, on election eve, November 3, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox Information)

New Jersey and Virginia are the one two states the place gubernatorial conflicts happen within the yr after the presidential election, and the elections are historically seen as political barometers forward of subsequent yr’s midterm elections.

And in 2025, they had been seen partly as poll field referendums on Trump’s unprecedented second-term agenda.

Whereas Democrats have lengthy dominated federal and state elections in New Jersey, Republicans have been extremely aggressive in gubernatorial elections, successful 5 of the earlier 10 elections.

New Jersey was seen as a possible state that might flip to Republican management after Trump reached voters within the state in the course of the 2024 election. Trump lower his 2020 loss in New Jersey from 16 factors to 6 in 2024 and likewise flipped 5 counties within the state crimson in the course of the 2024 race.

And over the previous 4 years, Republicans have benefited from Democrats’ giant voter registration benefit within the state.

In an more and more unfavorable and divisive race, the 2 nominees sparred in two fall debates and repeatedly took pictures at one another as they campaigned.

For instance, the New Jersey Democrat confronted marketing campaign challenges in September when a report revealed that the US Naval Academy blocked Sherrill from attending her commencement amid a dishonest scandal. Sherrill denounced the discharge of the report, which was wrongly launched to a Ciatarelli ally, and stated she was banned from strolling throughout her commencement as a result of she refused to report classmates concerned within the scandal.

CIATTARELLI RUNS ON MIKIE SHERRILL AT NJ CITY HALL, CITTING IMMIGRATION AND MARINE ACADEMY: ‘NOT A CENTRIST’

Republican candidate Jack Ciatarelli, left, shakes fingers with Democratic candidate for governor Mikie Sherrill, proper, earlier than a debate on September 21, 2025 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. (Noah Ok. Murray/The Related Press)

Sherrill was additionally threatened with a lawsuit by Ciatarelli over an allegedly defamatory declare that the Republican candidate contributed to the deaths of “tens of hundreds of New Jerseyans” in the course of the opioid disaster by publishing “propaganda” that the addictive medication had been secure.

“It is a baseless, reckless lie,” Ciatarelli stated on Fox Information’ “America’s Newsroom” every week earlier than Election Day.

“I simply acquired approval from the regulators yesterday that we are able to proceed with our lawsuit instantly, and that’s what I intend to do.” … We’re not going to tolerate these sorts of lies. The complete marketing campaign relies on a pile of lies.”

However Ciatarelli by no means filed the lawsuit earlier than Election Day.

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The New Jersey Governor’s inauguration is scheduled for January 20. Sherrill has not but introduced whether or not she plans to maneuver into the governor’s mansion, known as Drumthwacket, a historic property in Princeton, New Jersey.

Requested by Fox Information on Election Day about her timetable for resigning her U.S. Home seat and, when she takes over the governorship, calling for a particular congressional election to fill the vacant seat, Sherrill stated, “We’re fully centered on this election. We might be reaching out to Home management to make sure we try this as easily as attainable for the folks of New Jersey.”