Democrats Nominate Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey Governor, Hoping To Reverse State’s Rightward Shift

New Jersey Democrats have nominated Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill to be their standard-bearer in this year’s race for governor. After a crowded, sometimes bitter primary contest, Democrats hope that the former Navy helicopter pilot who serves in a swing district can help reverse New Jersey’s recent shift toward the Republican Party. Ms. Sherrill, who has served in the House since 2019, was declared the winner of the primary less than an hour after polls closed on Tuesday night. She beat her closest competitor, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, by nearly 15 points. Also competing in the primary before losing to Ms. Sherrill were Jersey City’s mayor, Steve Fulop; Congressman Josh Gottheimer; the state teachers’ union president, Sean Spiller; and a former state senate president, Steve Sweeney. Speaking to supporters on Tuesday night, Ms. Sherrill said her top priority was to make New Jersey more affordable. She also made clear that she was going to tie her state’s Republicans to President Trump. “We fund this nation, and yet, Trump and MAGA Republicans in D.C. wanna raise your taxes and take away your healthcare and education dollars,” the congresswoman told supporters. “The president comes here non-stop to his golf course, and he calls our state a ‘horror show.’ But come November, we’re sending a shot across the bow.”Ms. Sherrill, toward the end of the primary race, started shifting her advertising to focus more on the Republican Party than on her fellow Democrats. She opened a wide lead in the primary race in the fall, according to polls, and never came very close to losing it. In May, Ms. Sherrill aired a new television ad that portrayed her as the Democrat best positioned to win the general election. Without mentioning any of her primary opponents, Ms. Sherrill’s ad described the congresswoman as “the Democrat Republicans fear.”She will face off against a Republican former state representative, Jack Ciattarelli, who lost the 2021 gubernatorial race to Governor Murphy by three points. Mr. Ciattarelli easily won his own primary on Tuesday night. One would expect the Democrats to do well in New Jersey’s race for governor this year, given that Republicans now have total control of Washington. Historically, whichever party controls the White House loses the New Jersey governor’s mansion. Republicans won every gubernatorial election in the Garden State during the Clinton and Obama administrations, and Democrats took the governor’s races during the Bush and Trump years. Mr. Murphy was the only sitting governor to buck that trend when he narrowly won a second term in 2021. Despite that trend of opposition parties winning the New Jersey governorship, this could still be a good year for Republicans, and Mr. Ciattarelli may be the GOP’s best bet. President Trump lost New Jersey by less than six points last year, and Republicans have done a far better job registering new voters in the state than Democrats have since 2021, according to an analysis by a local outlet, NJ.com. Since the 2021 gubernatorial election, the GOP has added 37,000 voters to its rolls, increasing the number of registered Republicans in 20 of the state’s 21 counties. Democrats, on the other hand, have registered 9,700 voters in that same period. Across the state, 17 counties now have fewer Democrats than they did during the 2021 race for governor.

Democrats Nominate Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey Governor, Hoping To Reverse State’s Rightward Shift

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