Mikie Sherrill wins New Jersey governor race, defeats Ciattarelli

Fox News Decision Desk has predicted that New Jersey Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill will be the next governor of New Jersey and will keep the state blue in her down-ballot battle against Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli.

Sherrill will replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, defeating Ciattarelli in a highly competitive and spirited race that received significant national attention.

Sherrill has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019, after wresting the Garden State’s 11th District seat away from Republicans as part of 2018’s blue wave election year during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. Sherrill made history as the first woman to represent the northern suburban district of New Jersey.

“We’ve seen rallies with thousands of people turning out. Early voting, voting by mail is very, very good,” a confident Sherrill told reporters after voting on Election Day. “I think I’ll do pretty well today.”

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The New Jersey Democrat campaigned on a number of important issues; the most important of which was affordability in a state notorious for very high taxes. Sherrill argued on the campaign trail that he would lower costs for Garden State families, including “price gouging” and “fighting for tax cuts, lowering health care and energy costs.”

He also vowed to protect access to abortion, increase “new home construction that meets the needs of all residents” amid a housing crisis, and close the education gap among New Jersey’s top public schools in certain ZIP codes and areas struggling in the wake of the 2020 pandemic.

“I have a different background, so I’ll be a different kind of governor,” Sherrill told voters in his opening remarks ahead of the second gubernatorial debate in October. “Navy helicopter pilot, federal prosecutor, Congresswoman, and mother of four; I’m focused on lowering your costs and making New Jersey more affordable. … I’ll always make sure to fight for all of you.”

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, greets voters at a senior center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 29, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Sherrill is a Naval Academy graduate and former Sea King helicopter pilot who served more than nine years of active duty in the Navy. He left the military in 2003 at the rank of lieutenant and went to law school, according to his congressional biography.

The Democrat declared he was ready to “work on the future of New Jersey” while wearing a Navy jacket as he announced his candidacy for governor of New Jersey in November 2024.

He also worked as a prosecutor when he was about to enter politics. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University before working at a law firm in New York City and joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey as a federal prosecutor in 2015, according to his congressional biography.

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Sherrill, who came out on top among competitive challengers in June’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, faced Ciattarelli, a former certified public accountant who owned a medical publishing company before entering politics and serving as a state lawmaker, in the general election.

Ciattarelli first ran for governor in 2017 and finished second in the GOP primary. And he came close to unseating Murphy after receiving the GOP nomination four years ago, falling just three percentage points short.

In the final stretch of this year’s campaign, Ciattarelli narrowed his lead over Sherrill but failed to paint the blue-leaning state red.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli speaks to supporters at a tavern in Totowa, New Jersey, on the eve of Election Day, November 3, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states to hold gubernatorial showdowns the year after a presidential election, and the contests are traditionally viewed as political barometers ahead of the following year’s midterm elections.

And in 2025, these were seen in part as ballot box referendums on Trump’s unprecedented second-term agenda.

In New Jersey, Democrats have long dominated federal and state legislative elections, while Republicans have been highly competitive in gubernatorial races, winning five of the previous 10 elections.

New Jersey was seen as a potential state that could fall to Republican control following Trump’s raids on voters in the state during the 2024 election. Trump narrowed his 2020 loss in New Jersey from 16 points to six in 2024 and also flipped five counties in the state during the 2024 race.

And over the past four years, Republicans have also usurped Democrats’ huge voter registration advantage in the state.

In a race that has become increasingly negative and divisive, the two candidates sparred in two fall debates and repeatedly took shots at each other while on the campaign trail.

The New Jersey Democrat faced campaign trouble in September, for example, with a report revealing that the United States Naval Academy had blocked Sherrill from attending its commencement ceremony because of a cheating scandal. Sherrill harshly criticized the release of the report, which was improperly disclosed to an ally of Ciattarelli, and said he was barred from attending the graduation ceremony because he refused to report classmates involved in the scandal.

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Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli (L) shakes hands with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill (R) before the debate on September 21, 2025 in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. (Noah K. Murray/Associated Press)

Sherrill also faced the threat of a lawsuit from Ciattarelli over the defamatory claim that the Republican nominee contributed to the deaths of “tens of thousands of New Jerseyans” during the opioid crisis by broadcasting “propaganda” that addictive drugs were safe.

“This is a baseless, reckless lie,” Ciattarelli said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” a week after Election Day.

“Yesterday I received confirmation from regulators that we can proceed with our case immediately, which is what I plan to do. … We will not tolerate this type of lies. The entire campaign is built on a pile of lies.”

But Ciattarelli never filed a lawsuit before Election Day.

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The governorship inauguration in New Jersey is planned to be held on January 20. Sherrill has not yet announced whether he plans to move into the governor’s mansion called Drumthwacket, a historic property in Princeton, New Jersey.

Asked by Fox News about his timetable for resigning his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Election Day and his call for a special congressional election to fill the vacant seat when he takes over as governor, Sherrill said, “We are completely focused on this election. We will be in contact with House leaders to make sure we do this as smoothly as possible for the people of New Jersey.”