Democratic U.S. Rep. Miki Sherrill speaks during a rally on November 1 in Newark, New Jersey. The Associated Press declared Sherrill the winner of Tuesday's race over Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli.
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A former Navy pilot first elected to Congress in 2018 will become New Jersey's next governor.
Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, according to an Associated Press campaign ad, ending a closely watched gubernatorial election that some polls predicted would be a coin toss.
Sherrill's victory marks the first time since the 1960s that New Jersey voters have elected a governor from the same party for three consecutive terms. Her victory is also the second major victory for Democrats on Tuesday, following Abigail Spanberger victory for the governor of Virginia.
The race also marked one of the first statewide votes since President Trump began his second term. Trump endorsed Ciattarelli in May ahead of the Republican primary.
Tight race surprised some in a traditionally blue state that has had a Democratic governor for the past eight years and a Democratic-controlled Legislature for even longer.
But the possibility that the governorship could flip for the Republican – along with the statewide battle being seen as an indicator of public opinion about Trump's second term – has put the election in the national spotlight and raised almost $200 million in expenses.
Trump endorsed Ciattarelli earlier this year, saying that after Ciattarelli “learned and understood MAGA,” he went “ALL IN and is now 100% (PLUS!).” Ciattarelli has previously criticized the president. Meanwhile, former President Obama endorsed Cheryl in an online video message and later joined her on the campaign trail.
Cheryl, also a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, entered politics less than a decade ago when she was elected to Congress in 2018. This was the third time Ciattarelli, a former CPA and small business owner, has run for governor.
But even though Democrats have an advantage over Republicans in the electoral rolls, New Jerseyans have elected governors from both parties.
“As blue as New Jersey may be in presidential and U.S. Senate races, the state is definitely turning purple when it comes to gubernatorial elections,” Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University. told NPR in October.
Accessibility was perhaps the most important issue of the campaign. Both candidates lamented the state's high cost of living and rising energy prices, with Ciattarelli promising to cut New Jersey's high property taxes and Sherrill promising to freeze energy bills.
But in the final weeks of the race, the two campaigns traded personal attacks. Ciattarelli has repeatedly questioned Cheryl's involvement in the 1994 Naval Academy cheating scandal. She said she was banned from prom because she failed her classmates and criticized the Trump administration for sharing her largely unredacted military records with campaign ally Ciattarelli.
For her part, Cheryl accused Ciattarelli's former publishing company of producing material that downplayed the dangers of opioids, saying in one of the pair's televised debates that her opponent was responsible for killing tens of thousands of people in New Jersey. Ciattarelli said Cheryl was lying and threatened to sue her for slander.
