Bipartisan endorsement backs Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey governor race

FIRST ON FOX: A former Biden administration spokesman and a veteran GOP communicator, both of whom advise the affordability-focused policy group Affordability Coalition, are supporting New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill’s bid for governor, Fox News Digital has learned.

“After analyzing the plans of both candidates in the New Jersey governor’s race, the difference between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli on this decisive issue of affordability is stark,” Affordability Coalition consultants Andrew Bates and Terry Holt wrote in a joint endorsement first obtained by Fox News Digital on Wednesday. he wrote. “Mikie Sherrill has bold ideas about using certain powers of the governor’s office to make a difference that families will feel.”

Bates served as the White House’s senior deputy press secretary under the Biden administration and was a strong supporter of the former president amid growing health concerns during the 2024 election. Holt is a longtime Republican communicator and strategist; he previously served as a senior advisor to former Republican House Speaker John Boehner and as a national spokesman for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign before founding his own communications firm, Holt Communication Strategies.

The Cost Coalition is a bipartisan group of critics of President Donald Trump focused on lowering costs for U.S. residents and reducing the national debt by supporting leaders who “invest in solutions that strengthen the economic security of American families,” according to the group.

NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR HOPEES TO JOIN ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST, SAYS HE WILL FIGHT TRUMP TOOTH AND NAIL

The Cost Coalition was formed in April 2025, when Holt and Bates harshly criticized Trump’s economic policies in comments to The Associated Press at the time, claiming the president’s agenda was an economic crisis that threatened your livelihood and standard of living.

The Cost Coalition includes a handful of allies from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign for the Oval Office; these include Republican strategist Austin Weatherford, who heads “Republicans for Harris”; Rev. Jennifer Butler, Harris’ former national director of faith and engagement; He is the Harris campaign’s national director of veteran and military family engagement, The Associated Press reported in May.

Holt Communications Strategies founder Terry Holt joined forces with former Biden administration spokesman Andrew Bates to endorse Rep. Mikie Sherrill for governor of New Jersey. Bates and Holt are senior advisors to the bipartisan group the Cost Coalition. (Fox News)

The Cost Coalition’s endorsement of Sherrill on Wednesday argued that policies from Washington, D.C., “are worsening America’s cost crisis, forcing New Jersey families to pay increasingly higher prices for everything from utilities to groceries to health care.”

“Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, it is undeniable that New Jerseyans need economic relief from inflationary tariffs, cuts to American energy and health care to lower taxes on the rich, and trillions of dollars in new debt,” the duo wrote. “To address the growing economic crisis, the bipartisan Cost Coalition was formed to support leadership that prioritizes pocketbook issues for working families.”

Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli face off in the gubernatorial debate as they compete to become New Jersey’s next governor. (Heather Khalifa/Associated Press)

In a state notorious for high taxes and chronic housing shortages, affordability is a top issue for both Sherrill and his Republican rival for governor, Jack Ciattarelli. Sherrill campaigned to lower food costs by declaring a state of emergency on electricity rates to freeze rates, supporting consolidation of school districts to lower property taxes, and promoting additional grocery locations in the state to encourage competition. The New Jersey Monitor reported.

SHERRILL PULLS OUT WITH OBAMA APPROVAL, STAR-STARTED NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN FORWARD AS THE RACE SHOWS

Holt and Bates continued their support, saying, “Sherrill will reduce grocery costs by eliminating price gouging and enabling small businesses to compete with large chains.” “And it will eliminate the red tape that keeps home prices high, prevent pharmacy middlemen from driving drug prices even higher than they already are, and help create and sustain good-paying jobs in New Jersey.”

“Sherrill has been honest with voters against inflationary Washington policies that are driving up costs, including tariffs (a historic tax increase on working people), cuts to health care and clean energy, and adding trillions in new, unsustainable debt to provide tax breaks to those who need them least,” they added.

Democratic candidate for Governor of New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill, speaks to the crowd alongside Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar on Saturday, October 11, 2025 in Westville, NJ. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

Ciattarelli, who is backed by Trump, also focused his campaign on affordability, blaming Democrats for skyrocketing electricity costs in the state and promising to ban wind farms and instead further diversify the state’s energy sources with natural gas and nuclear power. Ciattarelli also supported capping property taxes, restructuring income tax rates, and implementing incentives for small businesses, such as protecting small business owners from paying taxes on their first $100,000 of income.

“Energy, especially electricity, is one of the reasons why we have an affordability crisis,” the Republican candidate said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” in October. “The current administration has failed us. My opponent has doubled down. There will be no wind farms off the Jersey Shore, we will divest from RGGI, a carbon tax policy that has failed our state, and we will lower electric bills on day one.”

Holt and Bates said they watched the New Jersey gubernatorial debates and gave Ciattarelli “the benefit of the doubt” before endorsing Sherrill.

BLUE STATE GOVERNORAL CANDIDATES ARE TRADED OVER A CRITICAL ISSUE FOR WEEKS BEFORE ELECTION DAY

“Unfortunately, Jack Ciattarelli and his supporters in Washington support a Washington agenda that drives up costs and inflation,” they wrote. “To avoid giving Ciattarelli the benefit of the doubt, we watched the debate closely in case he came up with last-minute plans to put New Jersey’s economy first. But he gave Washington’s cost-raising record an ‘A plus’. That’s why the bipartisan Cost Coalition is giving him an ‘F’.”

Jack Ciattarelli, Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey, is interviewed by Fox News Digital in Bayonne, NJ on October 15, 2025 (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

The latest endorsement follows other high-profile Democrats backing Sherrill ahead of Election Day, including former President Barack Obama filming a video endorsement before hitting the campaign trail the weekend before the election; Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro are also joining Sherrill for campaign events. Former President Joe Biden has not offered any public confirmation of 2025.

The 2025 offseason election year will feature only a handful of high-profile races, such as the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections and the New York City mayoral race.

CLICK TO REACH THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION

New Jersey elections will be held on Tuesday.

Republicans, including Trump, have suggested the deep blue state could turn red this year after the Trump campaign made inroads among Garden State voters during the 2024 race. Trump narrowed his 2020 loss from 16 points to six in 2024, while Republicans turned five states red in the last federal election cycle.