Democrat Mikie Sherrill elected governor of New Jersey, defeating opponent who aligned with Trump

TRENTON N J AP U S Rep Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday was elected governor of New Jersey shoring up Democratic control of a state that has been reliably blue in presidential and Senate contests but had shown signs of shifting rightward in fresh years Sherrill a former Navy helicopter pilot and four-term member of Congress defeated Jack Ciattarelli who was endorsed by President Donald Trump The start of voting on Tuesday was disrupted after agents in seven counties received e-mailed bomb threats later determined by law enforcement to be unfounded reported the state s top electoral process official Lt Gov Tahesha Way A judge granted a one-hour extension at chosen polling places after Democrats made a request for three schools that received e-mailed bomb threats earlier Tuesday Sherrill offers selected reassurance for moderates within the Democratic Party as they handle the path forward for next year s midterms A former prosecutor and military veteran Sherrill embodies a brand of centrist Democrats who aim to appeal to particular conservatives while still aligning with chosen progressive causes She campaigned on standing up to Trump and casting blame for voters concerns over the economic system on his tariffs At Sherrill s domination party Democrats celebrated framing the results Tuesday as a rebuke to the Trump agenda months into his administration Currently we declared no to Donald Trump and yes to democracy New Jersey s Democratic Party chair LeRoy J Jones Jr described people gathered She will be New Jersey s second female governor after Republican Christine Todd Whitman who served between and Her supremacy also gives Democrats three straight gubernatorial referendum wins in New Jersey the first time in six decades that either major party has achieved a three-peat Ciattarelli lost his second straight governor s electoral process after coming within a insufficient points of defeating incumbent Gov Phil Murphy four years ago New Jersey s odd-year race for governor one of just two this year along with Virginia often hinged on local issues such as property taxes But the campaign also served as a prospective gauge of national sentiment especially how voters are reacting to the president s second term and Democrats messaging ahead of the midterm elections In the closing weeks of the campaign Sherrill lambasted the president s threat to cancel a project to build new rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River to replace the aging disintegrating tubes now used by trains headed to and from New York City She also pledged to order a freeze on electric utility rates which have lately soared Sherrill efforts into the governorship role after serving four terms in the U S House She won that post in during Trump s first term in office flipping a longtime GOP-held district in an referendum that saw Democrats sweep all but one of the state s House seats During her campaign Sherrill leaned hard into her credentials as a congresswoman and onetime prosecutor as well as her military operation But she also had to defend her Navy organization record after a news summary that she was not allowed to participate in her graduation ceremony from the U S Naval Academy commencement in connection with an academic cheating disgrace at the school Sherrill stated the punishment was a outcome of not turning in chosen classmates not because she herself had cheated But she declined to release additional records that the Ciattarelli campaign revealed would shed more light on the issue For her part she accused Ciattarelli of profiting off the opioid dilemma He is the former owner of a curative publishing company that made continuing learning materials for doctors including certain that discussed pain management and opioids Sherrill called it propaganda for drug companies something Ciattarelli denied Sherrill will inherit a state budget that swelled under Murphy who delivered on promises to fund the constituents worker pension fund and a K- school aid formula after years of neglect under previous governors by high income taxes on the wealthy But there are also headwinds that include unfunded promises to continue a property tax relief campaign begun in the governor s second term Also on the ballot Tuesday were all seats in the Assembly which Democrats control with a -seat majority New Jersey hasn t supported a Republican for U S Senate or the White House in decades The governor s office though has often switched back and forth between the parties The last time the same party prevailed in a third straight New Jersey polling for governor was in when Richard Hughes won the race to succeed Gov Robert Meyner Both were Democrats Source