Five names emerge as Sherrill weighs lieutenant governor pick

Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s search for a new lieutenant governor is taking shape, with five candidates emerging as serious contenders to replace Dale Caldwell, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

The group includes two state lawmakers, a former Biden White House lawyer and two prominent Black business leaders, reflecting a search that extends beyond Trenton’s traditional political ranks. The five are Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton), Assemblyman Chigozie Onyema (D-Newark), former Associate White House Counsel Justin Dews, and entrepreneurs Randal Pinkett and Squire Servance.

The names do not constitute a complete short list, and Sherrill could still look elsewhere as she weighs one of the most consequential appointments of her still-new administration.

But all five are under serious consideration as the governor faces a November 9 deadline to fill a vacancy that puts her eventual choice one heartbeat away from the governorship.

Sherrill’s clock began ticking on September 25, the day Caldwell resigned, giving her 45 days to name his replacement. With State Police needing about three weeks to complete a full background check, the governor’s practical window to choose is much shorter.

When she announced Caldwell’s resignation, Sherrill promised to “move swiftly and thoughtfully” in selecting a new lieutenant governor.

Caldwell was the first man to serve as lieutenant governor and the first Black man to stand next in the gubernatorial line of succession.  Several party leaders say Sherrill will face considerable pressure to appoint a person of color as his successor.

“I think it’s important that it be a Black man,” said Rev. Charles F. Boyer, the influential pastor of Greater Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Trenton and founder of Salvation and Social Justice, a nonpartisan Black faith-based policy organization.

Still, Boyer is a close friend of Reynolds-Jackson and backed her congressional campaign earlier this year.

Reynolds-Jackson, 55, a former social worker and daughter of a Vietnam veteran, spent eight years as a Trenton city councilwoman and two years as the Mercer County Democratic chair before winning a special election for the State Assembly in 2018.  She chairs the Assembly Education Committee.

After Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) retired, Reynolds-Jackson became a candidate for the 12th district congressional seat.

Onyema, 39, is a relatively new face in Trenton.  The son of Nigerian immigrants, he served as general counsel for the Newark Parking Authority and as assistant commissioner of Community Affairs.  He won an Assembly seat last year after defeating incumbent Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood) at the Essex County Democratic convention, and then in the primary election.

As the Democratic municipal chairman in Newark’s West Ward and the endorsed candidate of the New Jersey Working Families, Onyema has deftly balanced relationships with party organization leaders and grassroots progressives.

The 37-year-old Dews served as chairman of the New Jersey Clemency Advisory Board after stints in the Biden White House and as senior counsel to Gov. Phil Murphy.  He co-chaired Sherrill’s Fiscal Responsibility & Government Accountability Transition Committee after last year’s governor’s race.

Servance, a 44-year-old patent and life sciences attorney from Pennington, drew attention from Democratic insiders when he sought the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th district last June.

Pinkett, 55, the first Black Rhodes scholar from Rutgers and a Franklin resident, won national attention in 2005 when he competed on Donald Trump’s TV reality show, The Apprentice, and won.

“Rarely have I seen a leader as good as you, and you lead through niceness,” Trump said when selecting Pinkett as the winner.

When New Jersey elected its first lieutenant governor in 2009, Pinkett became one of the top three contenders on Gov. Jon Corzine’s short list.  Corzine eventually picked State Sen. Loretta Weinberg.  Pinkett staunchly opposed Trump’s three presidential bids.

Last Thursday, the National Action Network Monmouth/Ocean County launched an online petition urging Sherrill to pick former Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter (D-Paterson).  As of early Monday morning, only 28 people signed it.

“She is our choice, but we earned a seat at the table,” the organization stated.  “Black representation cannot be celebrated during campaign season and treated as negotiable afterward.

This is the third time Sumter is in the mix: she was considered by Murphy in 2017, and again in 2023 after Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver died in office.

Sumter has the backing of Rev. Elorm Ocansey, the assistant pastor of the Transformation International Chapel in Franklin.

NJ.com has listed Sumter, New Jersey Chief Operating Officer Kellie Doucette, and Acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu as potential candidates.

Doucette and Emehelu are both close friends of the governor.  Doucette was her district director for Sherrill’s first six years in Congress, and Emehelu and Sherrill were federal prosecutors together.