In a race that featured a crowded field and plenty of uncertainty, New Jersey Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill has won the Democratic primary race for governor.
The Associated Press called the race for Sherrill at 8:39 p.m., with Sherrill leading the pack with 35.3% of the vote, with 41% of votes counted.
Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor and congresswoman, defeated Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney.
The top issue for the Democratic candidates was making life more affordable for Garden State residents. Several candidates also emphasized their position on President Donald Trump and their opposition to his immigration policies and Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, executive orders.
Sean Higgins, Sherrill’s director of communications, said over the next several months the campaign will be focused on introducing her to the entire state.
“She has dedicated her life to serving the people of this country, and the people of New Jersey,” he said. “Mikie is going to be a governor for everybody, she’s going to build more affordable housing and bring costs down, she’s going to deliver.”
Higgins said Sherrill is very different from the Republican nominee she will face in November.
“Mikie is for New Jersey, and Ciattarelli is for Trump,” he said. “She’s ruthlessly focused on getting results, and I think that stands in stark contrast to Jack Ciattarelli, who is really the ghost of elections past and hasn’t really delivered a thing for New Jersey.”
At Sherrill headquarters inside the ballroom of the Westin Governor Morris Hotel in Morristown, supporter Roman Hirniak, of Wharton, New Jersey, was happy that his candidate was victorious.
“I am a proud member of the Ukrainian-American community in New Jersey,” he said. “Congresswoman Sherrill has been one of our loudest voices on Capital Hill, she has earned my support because she is a decent human being that understands what leadership should be like on the gubernatorial level.”
Another supporter, David Genova, of Montclair, New Jersey, said he’s backed Sherrill since she first ran for Congress.
“She’s been very supportive of Montclair, especially during the pandemic,” he said. “I think she’s on the right and practical side of most issues and I think she’s going to be a great governor, Mikie knows how to get things done.”
During the primary campaign the gubernatorial candidates spent more than $122 million, making it the most expensive primary race in state history.
Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, said recent polling projected Rep. Sherrill as the frontrunner, but a winner was hard to predict.
“We just did away with the county ballot line [in New Jersey] which gave preferential treatment to candidates who had the [major political] endorsements,” he said. “This time candidates were on their own, they had to make their own case, and that meant we couldn’t really model how this election was going to turn out.”
He said voter turnout for primary elections in New Jersey is usually low, and in this race voters were choosing between six different candidates, making it harder to predict voting trends.
“That means that the number of votes it takes to win the race is pretty low, and that at least raised the possibility that any of them could have gotten across that finish line,” he said.
New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz congratulated Rep. Sherrill on her victory Tuesday night.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill on a hard-fought victory to be the Democratic nominee for New Jersey’s next Governor. Mikie is a fierce advocate for families and freedom - she has what it takes, knows what’s at stake, and will not back down from addressing our state’s most consequential challenges. She’s a working mother who will fight to improve the lives of our residents, children, and vulnerable communities at every turn. I look forward to standing with her as she shows the Garden State and the nation that when women lead, they deliver.”
Four years ago in the primary election for governor, about 12% of registered Democrats voted. Less than 400,000 ballots were cast in that race.
The general election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
