New Jersey gubernatorial race sees 800,000+ early votes before Election Day

ELIZABETH, NJ – With Election Day less than a week away and the governor’s race in New Jersey approaching a potential photo finish, both major party candidates are touting strong early voting numbers.

“We’re seeing great results in mail-in voting and early voting,” Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor, told Fox News Digital after a meeting at a senior center in northern New Jersey on Wednesday.

But “we’ve seen more Republicans voting by mail than ever before,” Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli said in an interview with Fox News Digital before meeting supporters at a restaurant in the central New Jersey town of Robbinsville.

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The race in New Jersey — the only two states, along with Virginia, to hold gubernatorial contests in the year after a presidential election and give them significant national attention — may come down to which party does a better job of energizing its voters and tapping into its base.

More than 800,000 votes have already been cast in the Garden State race to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, with the majority coming via mail-in voting.

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But nearly a quarter of a million people voted in in-person early voting that began Saturday. This figure has already surpassed the turnout during the nine-day early voting period in the last gubernatorial election four years ago.

Overall, the number of registered Democrats is roughly twice as many as Republicans voting early; This continues the trend seen over the last few election cycles.

Sherrill, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew helicopters throughout his military career and briefly served as a federal prosecutor before winning his first election to Congress in 2018, called the early voting numbers “really great news.”

“The trend is definitely a lot better than ’21,” Sherrill said, pointing to the gubernatorial election four years ago, when Ciattarelli came close to upsetting Murphy during his second gubernatorial bid.

Drawing attention to the total number of in-person votes since Saturday, Ciattarelli said, “We are matching them as voters instead of voters in early voting. We are in a very good situation. We are heading towards victory.”

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Ciattarelli did not give a number when asked what kind of turnout he would need on Election Day next Tuesday to overcome Sherrill’s overall early voting advantage.

But he said: “It’s all about turnout, and I’m very, very pleased with the energy. The energy shows that we’re going to have good turnout, and the fact that we’ve had such a warm reception in minority communities across the state, as well as the support of a variety of Democrats across the state, shows that we’re going to win.”

New Jersey Republican governor Jack Ciattarelli speaks to voters at a restaurant in Robbinsville, NJ, on October 29, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

On Thursday, Sherrill met with former transportation secretary and former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, one of the Democratic Party’s top communicators, for two events. And some of the other biggest names in the party over the past two weekends have been Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Wes Moore of Maryland campaigned with him.

And the nation’s most popular Democrat — former President Barack Obama — will headline a rally with Sherrill in Newark on Saturday, the final weekend before Election Day.

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“I think we’re seeing a lot of energy,” Sherrill said when asked if high-profile surrogates were being used to boost enthusiasm among Democrats.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie (L) of New Jersey meets with Maryland Governor Wes Moore on the campaign trail on October 19, 2025 in Newark, NJ. (Mikie Sherrill campaign)

However, Ciattarelli claimed that “his campaign lacked energy from the very beginning, it was too late”.

Ciattarelli has been joined on the campaign trail over the past two weeks by two top MAGA stars and prominent allies of President Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy of Ohio and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.

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Trump headlined a tele-rally for Ciattarelli last Friday on the eve of the start of early voting, and his campaign told Fox News Digital that another tele-rally with the president is expected before Election Day.

In a likely close election in which getting core voters to the polls will be crucial, there is hope that tele-rallies with the president and recent campaign visits by Ramaswamy and Donalds will energize MAGA supporters, many of whom are low-propensity voters who often skip voting in non-presidential election years.

Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy manages a campaign event for New Jersey GOP candidate for governor Jack Ciattarelli on October 15, 2025 in Saddle Brook, NJ (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

In blue-leaning New Jersey, Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections, while Republicans are fiercely competitive in gubernatorial races, winning five of the last 10 elections.

And Trump made big gains in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election; His state lost just six percentage points, a huge improvement from its 16-point deficit four years ago.

This year’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia are seen in part as ballot box referendums on Trump’s unprecedented and explosive second-term agenda.

In the second and final debate this month, Sherrill claimed that his GOP opponent “has shown zero signs of opposing this president.” In fact, the president himself called Jack 100% MAGA, and he showed every sign that he was.”

When asked if he considered himself part of the MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he was “part of the New Jersey movement.”

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When asked to rate the president’s performance so far in his second term, Ciattarelli said, “I would definitely give the president an A. I think he’s been right in everything he’s done.”

“I guess that tells us everything we need to know about who Jack Ciattarelli supports. I’m giving him an F right now,” Sherrill responded, noting the high cost of living in New Jersey.

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill (R) and Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli are on stage at the start of their second and final debate on October 8, 2025 in New Brunswick, NJ. (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News Digital)

In the weeks since the last debate, Sherrill has emphasized that Ciattarelli gives Trump an A grade.

At the senior center stop Wednesday, Sherrill argued that Trump was a political mainstay for Ciattarelli.

“Given that the president has increased his costs on everyone, it really hurts everyone who has a relationship with him, and certainly my opponent has really adjusted to the president, giving him an A grade,” he charged.

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Ciattarelli, a onetime certified public accountant who founded a medical publishing company before entering politics and winning election as a state lawmaker, received Trump’s endorsement in his race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination earlier this year. Trump’s endorsement helped Ciattarelli to an easy and convincing primary victory in a nomination race focused on support for the president.

He has repeatedly criticized Sherrill for focusing on Trump, saying earlier this month that “there are a lot of people in the state of New Jersey who are happy with the job the president is doing.”