Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli easily on Tuesday to keep the New Jersey governorship in Democratic hands.
Vote totals showed Sherrill, a four-term congresswoman and a former Navy pilot, with a double-digit lead over Ciattarelli, who had lost by just three points four years ago to Gov. Phil Murphy. Donald Trump lost the state by just six points last year.
“Her campaign talked to people in a way that at least gave a plausible idea of where she wanted to take the state,” Democratic consultant Glenn Totten told JNS. “That’s what America is looking for, somebody to give them a vision.”
Rabbi David Levy, New Jersey regional director for the American Jewish Committee, said he had worked with Sherrill in Washington and was looking forward to working with her in Trenton, N.J.
He especially welcomed her proposals to fight antisemitism, modeled after former President Joe Biden’s national strategy, to which AJC contributed.
“She’s been a good partner in the work that we do,” Levy told JNS. “We will be bringing that to the statehouse and will look forward to her implementing the call to action we made in having a whole of society approach to countering antisemitism.”
And if the state legislature doesn’t adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred in the current session, Levy said he hoped that Sherill will push lawmakers to do so next year, perhaps with additional clout that she gained by her large victory on Tuesday.
“She will have the ability to do many things in the statehouse, and we hope the issue countering antisemitism and other forms of hate is the beneficiary of that clout,” Levy said.
Sherrill’s win marked the first time in more than 60 years that New Jersey Democrats won three consecutive terms as governor. And CNN exit polls showed that she recaptured some voters who defected last fall to Trump.
She won the support of 91% of blacks and 64% of Hispanics a year after Trump made inroads in traditionally Democratic constituencies.
“The boat that everyone jumped on was affordability,” Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, told JNS. “But the underlying current was Trump, and that tide affected how that boat crossed the finish line.”
Ciattarelli, who kept his distance from Trump four years ago, embraced the president this time around; Sherrill kept reminding voters of that.
Democratic consultant Modia (“Mo”) Butler said that Trump had a lot to do with Sherrill’s success, including his decision to withhold funding for the Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River, a lifeline for New Jerseyans who commute to New York City every day.
Trump also refused to address the upcoming increase in health-care premiums and withheld nutrition funding until a judge ordered him to release the funds.
“He was Mike Sherrill’s best campaign surrogate,” Butler said. “You can’t hurt rank-and-file voters and think they’re going to turn a blind eye to you and vote for you.”
While Sherrill had visits from the likes of former President Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, though “the person who did the most for her campaign was the president of the United States of America,” Butler said.
Sherrill referred to Trump, though not by name, in her victory speech. She reminded her supporters of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by Trump backers and the two impeachments of the president, both of which she voted for.
She said she took an oath to the Constitution, not a king. She noted that New Jerseyans saw the sun rise every day over the Statue of Liberty as she recited the beginning of Emma Lazarus’s famous poem welcoming immigrants to the United States.
And she mentioned that New Jersey was one of the first states to adopt a motto: Liberty and prosperity.
“Both are essential in our democracy,” she said. “As the president is backing away from this ideal, we here in New Jersey are bound to fight for a different future for our children.”
