Mikie Sherrill will officially become New Jersey’s next governor Tuesday. And in case you missed the blizzard of campaign ads in last year’s huge gubernatorial election, her new job is the latest entry in a lengthy bio that also includes time as a Navy helicopter pilot, federal prosecutor, mother of four, and member of Congress.
Sherrill, a Democrat, is now set to assume the top job in Garden State government a day after she turns 54. (Yes, Monday is her birthday.) She comes armed with a number of promises (such as freezing sky-high electric prices) and facing a number of challenges (such as warnings about the state budget and working with President Donald Trump, a frequent foe).
Here’s a closer look at what you need to know about your next governor as she prepares to be sworn in.
1. She won big last year
Sherrill was one of six Democrats — all notable names in Jersey politics — who sought their party’s nomination to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. It was an especially heated primary and was expected to be a close race. But Sherrill won by 13 percentage points.
Then, she waged a fierce campaign against Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the general election, four years after Ciattarelli nearly upset Murphy in the 2021 governor’s race. The rivals traded vicious verbal attacks all summer and fall, and several polls either showed Sherrill with a single-digit lead or the race a dead heat right up to Election Day.
In the end, Sherrill won by 14 percentage points, notching 56.9% of the vote and the most votes of any gubernatorial candidate ever in New Jersey.
Now, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll, she enters office with 40% of Jerseyans seeing her favorably, 22% unfavorably, 32% having no opinion, and 6% saying they don’t know who she is.
Ashley Koning, the poll’s director, said the fact many people are undecided about Sherrill could work in her favor as she arrives, “suggesting many residents are open to what she brings to the table.”
2. She’s making history
Not only will Sherrill become Jersey’s 57th governor, she’ll be just the second woman to hold the job in state history — after Republican Christie Whitman in the 1990s. That also makes Sherrill the state’s first Democratic female governor.
Whitman endorsed Sherrill last year, calling her “the total package.”
On top of that, Sherrill’s victory marked the first time one party will hold the Jersey governor’s office for three straight terms since 1961. That was the year Russia’s Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space.
Plus, her running mate was Dale Caldwell, Centenary University’s first Black president — who will now be the first man to serve as the state’s lieutenant governor.
3. Her last job was in Congress
The Essex County Democrat broke onto the state’s political scene in 2018, when she flipped the U.S. House seat in North Jersey’s 11th congressional district — a Republican bastion for three decades. Sherrill was part of the “blue wave” that rocked the state in President Donald Trump’s first midterm. Democrats took four of Jersey’s House seats from Republicans that year.
Sherrill became a rising star in the Democratic Party and went on to be re-elected three times. She stepped down from her seat in the middle of her forth term after winning the governor’s race in November.
Mikie Sherrill addresses supporters at her campaign headquarters at the Hilton in East Brunswick last November right after winning New Jersey’s gubernatorial election. She succeeds fellow Democrat Phil Murphy.Jeff Rhode | For NJ Advance Media
4. Yes, she was in the Navy
You probably heard something about that. Sherrill’s career as a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot was a big part of her gubernatorial campaign. She incorporated helicopters into her lawn signs and stickers and often spoke on the campaign trail about how her service shaped her life and vision for government. She even donned her pilot jacket and appeared in a chopper for campaign ads.
“I know the world feels like it is on fire right now,” Sherrill said in one clip. “But I was trained in the Navy that in a crisis, you run toward the fight.”
Sherrill graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994, in the first class of women eligible for combat roles on ships and aircraft, according to her campaign.
She ultimately served for nine years, flying missions in Europe and the Middle East.
Sherrill later graduated rom Georgetown Law School and worked as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.
5. She vowed to freeze electric prices
As Jerseyans dealt with soaring electric bills last year, Sherrill made a splash by promising to declare a state of emergency on Day 1 and freeze energy rates. She’s likely to discuss that in her inaugural speech Tuesday — even though critics have warned she can expect a legal battle for whatever action she takes.
Sherrill said in a statement Friday that “New Jerseyans and ratepayers across the country are demanding action, and I will get right to work on Day 1 to lower utility costs and increase in-state power generation.”
The pledge was part of Sherrill’s larger message on making high-tax and high-cost Jersey a more affordable place to live. However, critics in both the primary and general election said her campaign relied too much on her bio and an anti-Trump platform while her policy plans were frequently short on specifics.
“Sherrill campaigned on two big things: freezing electricity prices and opposing Trump. She’s pretty much got to do something, at least symbolically, on both points right away,” said Dan Cassino, executive director of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s poll.
On freezing energy rates, Cassino said “a failure to do something that she seemed to be saying was easy would be hard to explain.”
During the campaign, Sherrill also vowed not to raise the state’s sales tax, as well as to build more affordable housing, overhaul the state’s school funding formula, and protect abortion rights.
6. She and Trump aren’t friends
Over the years, Sherrill has been an open critic of the Republican president. She vowed repeatedly on the trail last year to combat Trump’s policies — and gave Trump an “F” grade during one debate.
“Here in New Jersey, we know that this nation has not ever been, nor will it ever be, ruled by kings,” Sherrill said during her victory speech.
The president isn’t a fan of her, either. During a telephone rally for Ciattarelli — whom he endorsed — Trump said “the only thing (Sherrill’s) got is an unusual name. Other than that, she’s terrible.”
Insiders and experts say anti-Trump sentiment — and her strategy to frequently blame Trump for economic woes — helped secure her landslide victory.
Don’t be surprised if Sherrill’s address Tuesday includes similar sentiments. Still, Cassino, the FDU pollster, said her anti-Trump rhetoric is “likely to be more symbolic, partially because of the Supremacy Clause (of the U.S. Constitution), and partly because governors generally want to stay under the radar and not attract the attention of the administration.”
7. She’ll immediately face budget concerns
Sherrill won’t have much time before she will confront another big issue: the state budget. She’ll propose her first government spending plan just weeks after taking over, and officials in both parties say it will be a doozy.
New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank, released a report this week that said Sherrill “inherit a budget filled with hidden dangers” that could force her to consider tax hikes or cuts. That includes at least a $1.5 billion structural budget deficit and the full implementation of the $900 million Stay NJ property-tax break.
“Without new revenues, these budget time bombs will make maintaining current funding difficult, let alone any new initiatives the next governor may propose,” wrote Peter Chen, NJPP’s senior policy analyst.
8. She’s from out of state.
Sherrill grew up in Virginia, eventually moving to New Jersey about a decade ago. (Fun fact: Four of the last six Democratic Jersey governors weren’t raised here. That includes Massachusetts native Murphy, Illinois’ Jon Corzine, and Brooklyn’s Jim Florio.)
Sherrill and her family live in Montclair. She’s married to Jason Hedberg, a fellow Navy veteran whom she met at the Naval Academy in the early 1990s. He’s now an investment banker.
The couple has four children.
9. Her real name is …
She was born Rebecca Michelle Sherrill. But she has gone by Mikie since childhood.
“When I was 2, my dad said to me: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we called you Mikie?’ My mom said: ‘No, that would not be cool.’ And I said: ‘Yes, it would be cool.’ And I would not answer to anything except Mikie,” Sherrill told NJ Advance Media last year.
And her name is pronounced Mike-ee Sher-uhl. Her first name rhymes with Nike shoes and her last name is said like the first name “Cheryl.”
10. Inauguration Day will be different
It’s tradition for New Jersey governors to take the oath of office in Trenton, the state capitol. Sherrill will break that, becoming only the second governor in more than 200 years to be sworn in elsewhere.
Her inauguration — and inaugural speech — will take place Tuesday morning at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, the state’s largest city.
And later that night, she’ll celebrate with an inaugural ball … at the state’s mega-mall, the American Dream retail and entertainment complex in East Rutherford.
11. She delivered a baby in cab. Really.
After her victory, Sherrill went on fellow Monctlair resident Stephen Colbert’s talk show and shared a striking personal story.
She recalled how she welcomed her second child — a son — years ago in a New York City taxi cab. She was traveling through Central Park on the way to Mount Sinai Medical Center.
“We get halfway across the park, and my water breaks,” Sherrill said. “I’m like, ‘I’m having this baby in the cab.’ And Jason, my husband, goes, ‘Don’t push.’ For anyone that’s had a baby, that’s not really an option.”
When her husband jumped out to get help, a woman at a bus stop — who happened to work at the hospital — came to her aid.
Sherrill said she was also helped by a chapter in a parenting book she read about giving birth without a doctor.
Her husband’s reaction: “He looks down at me again and goes, ‘I thought I told you not to push.’”
NJ Advance Media staff writer Brianna Kudisch contributed to this report.
