Mikie Sherrill enters race for Democratic gubernatorial nomination

Pledging to “do big things” and make the state more affordable, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor who became an immediate star in New Jersey politics when she frightened one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress out of his re-election bid in six years ago, today announced her bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 2025.

“Let’s be the state that builds more housing, fixes the economy, and makes life more affordable for hardworking New Jerseyans, from health care to groceries to childcare,” Sherrill said in a launch video this morning.  “These challenges aren’t new and it’s time to confront them head on.”

The 52-year-old mother of four from Montclair – she met her husband while they were attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis — promised to make New Jersey “the state that sets the gold standard for protecting rights and freedoms.”

“We know they’ll be under attack from Donald Trump’s Washington,” she said.

Sherrill pointed to her military background and work in Congress as evidence of her leadership skills.

“In a crisis, the worst thing you can do is freeze. You have to choose to lead, to follow, or get out of the way,” Sherrill said.  “So we can either stand aside, or we can get to work on New Jersey’s future, and I know which one I pick. In New Jersey, we don’t whine; we work.”

Sherrill is now the sixth Democrat to join the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, along with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, former Senate President Steve Sweeney, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, New Jersey Education Association President and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), who joined the race on Friday.

The North Jersey congresswoman enters the race as one of the leading candidates; public and private polls show her with the highest name recognition, and she is expected to have the support of party leaders in Essex, Middlesex, Passaic, and Morris counties.  Sherrill also begins the campaign with the support of the Laborers’ International Union of North America and the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association.

Sherrill will spend Tuesday on the campaign trail, joining Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh at a non-profit social services agency in the state’s third-largest city.  Sayegh indicated earlier this month that he would back Sherrill for governor.  She’ll also meet with LiUNA members at a construction site in New Brunswick and with visiting nurses in Red Bank.  Sherrill will finish her day with the NJFMBA in Atlantic City.

She made national headlines in July when she became among the first congressional Democrats to call on Joe Biden to drop his re-election bid.

Run for Congress

After volunteering on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Sherrill launched her political career as a candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 11th district in 2018 after very briefly considering a challenge to Bob Menendez in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.

As a political newcomer motivated to run for office by Donald Trump’s election as president, Sherrill raised over $1.2 million by the end of 2017.  Her fundraising prowess scared the 12-term incumbent, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-Harding), into retirement.  She received an early endorsement from Democratic county chairmen in Essex, Morris, Passaic, and Sussex counties that essentially cleared significant contenders out of the race; she defeated Tamara Harris in the Democratic primary by a 77%-14% margin in a five-candidate field.

Sherrill won the general election by 46,262 votes, 57%-42%, flipping a seat held by Republicans for 34 years.  She was re-elected by six points in 2020.  After redistricting made her district more Democratic, she won a 19-point victory in 2022 and held the seat by 14 points in her bid for a fourth term fourteen days ago. She outperformed Kamala Harris by six percentage points.

As a congresswoman, Sherrill serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.  During her first term in Congress, she chaired the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.

Sherrill has fought to restore the state and local tax deduction eliminated by Trump and the Republican Congress and for federal funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project.

She’s also shown an independent streak in Washington, declining to vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker in 2019 and again in 2021.

The granddaughter of a World War II pilot, Sherrill graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and became a Navy helicopter pilot and aircraft commander. During his nearly nine years in the Navy, she flew missions in Europe and the Middle East, was assigned to the battle watch floor in the European Theater during the invasion of Iraq, served as a Russian policy officer, and was a flag aide to the Deputy Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic fleet.

She received a master’s degree in Global History from the London School of Economics and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Sherrill will seek to become New Jersey’s first Democratic woman governor – Republican Christine Todd Whitman was twice elected in the 1990s –and the third woman to win a statewide Democratic primary: 32-year-old Thelma Parkinson was the party’s nominee for a ten-week unexpired term in the U.S. Senate in 1930 (she received 39%) and State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) won 38% in her 2013 run for governor.

Eschewing a traditional announcement surrounded by party leaders, Sherrill joined the race in a two-minute and fifteen-second launch video this morning.

Script: “We’ve been through a lot these past couple of years.  There’ve been crises in this country, all over the world, and here in New Jersey. And after this election, we know people are more divided than ever on how to move forward. I’m Mikie Sherrill. As a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former Navy helicopter aircraft commander, here’s something I learned early on: In a crisis, the worst thing you can do is freeze.  You have to choose to lead, to follow, or get out of the way. So we can either stand aside, or we can get to work on New Jersey’s future. And I know which one I pick. In New Jersey, we don’t whine, we work. Every time I pass that bridge in Trenton and see the sign, “Trenton Makes, The World Takes” — I think, “Hell yeah, that’s New Jersey.” This is the state, more than any other, that guaranteed our freedom as we fought for independence. This is the state that built this nation. And while we were at it, we even invented the light bulb. We’ve always been unafraid to do the big things — because we’re inventors and innovators and builders.  And we work with our minds and our hands. So let’s be the state that builds more housing, let’s fix the economy, let’s make life more affordable for hardworking New Jerseyans, from health care to groceries to childcare. These challenges aren’t new and it’s time to confront them head on. We can also be the state that sets the gold standard for protecting rights and freedoms, and we know they’ll be under attack from Donald Trump’s Washington. Because in New Jersey, we love our country, we’re proud of our state, and we value our freedoms. We’ll defend them with everything we’ve got. In the Navy, I was on a mission to protect our country.  Now, I’m announcing my candidacy for governor, on a mission to get things done for New Jersey. This will be a campaign we build together because we all have a place and a say in New Jersey’s future. And I’ve met so many people who believe as deeply as I do in the promise of our state. And I’m asking you to join us. So New Jersey, let’s build something.”