New Jersey doesn’t joke about its pizza, so when a candidate for governor references Domino’s during a campaign idea, fuggetaboutit — there’s going to be blowback.

That’s exactly what’s happening to Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who’s being ridiculed online for likening a government dashboard she promises to the Domino’s pizza tracker, which lets customers follow their orders’ processing.

“Keeping track of your small business permits should be as easy as ordering a pizza,” Ms. Sherrill said in a post on X. “When I’m governor, I’ll create an online project dashboard — like the Domino’s pizza tracker — for your business.”

“NJ has the best pizza. No one who lived there would order from Dominos unless under duress or a carpet bagger,” one person posted.

“Domino’s? You claim to live in New Jersey and you mention Domino’s? This is just sad,” another user responded.

“Dominos was the best Pizza example you could come up with? How long have you even lived in New Jersey?” another response stated.

Ms. Sherrill is running against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state representative who has played up that he is a life-long resident of the state. His intro section on his Facebook page starts with “Jersey Guy.”

Ms. Sherrill was born in Virginia and served in various locations as a pilot in the United States Navy. After leaving the service and obtaining a law degree from Georgetown she worked at New York City before eventually becoming a federal prosecutor in New Jersey and winning a seat in Congress in 2018.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only states that hold gubernatorial elections the year after a presidential election. The elections are considered an early sign of sentiment for the national midterm elections.

Recent polls show Ms. Sherrill with a single-digit lead in the race. A poll conducted for InsiderNJ poll gives Ms. Sherrill a six-point lead and a Fairleigh Dickinson poll gives her an eight-point advantage.

Mr. Ciattarelli cruised to a primary victory in June after President Trump endorsed him. He nearly won the governorship four years ago, losing to Governor Phil Murphy by just three points in what would have been an upset. Mr. Murphy is unable to seek another four years in this election due to term limits.

Democrats hold a majority in registered voters but the number has been tightening this year with thousands of Democratic registrations being stripped from the voter rolls due to inactivity and Republicans gathering new registrations at a faster pace.

A Democratic super PAC reserved more than $20 million in TV, digital, and streaming ads in July in an effort to tamp down Republican inroads and to keep Democratic control of the state’s governorship.