Sherrill Beats Ciattarelli to Win New Jersey Governor’s Race

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.—U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) will be New Jersey’s 57th governor and the Garden State’s second-ever woman chief executive with a narrow win over Republican Jack Ciattarelli in their Nov. 5 gubernatorial race.

Sherrill, a Navy veteran who has served four terms in the House, garnered 56 percentage points to Ciattarelli’s 42 percentage points to succeed term-limited Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy. The Associated Press called the race at 9:23 p.m. ET.

Sherrill’s victory marks the first time New Jersey voters have elected a governor from the same party in three consecutive elections since 1961, when Democrat Richard Hughes followed two-term Gov. Robert Meyner. The last time Republicans did this was 1907.

For Ciattarelli, it was another oh-so-close underdog race in a state where there are about 900,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.

The medical journal publisher, certified public accountant, and former four-term state assemblyman lost his first gubernatorial bid in 2017 in the GOP primary and his second in 2021 to Murphy in the general election by 3 percentage points, about 84,000 votes.

The last Somerset County Republican to win a New Jersey governor’s race was Christine Todd Whitman, who until Sherrill’s Nov. 4 win was also the only woman to lead the state.

Third Time Not a Charm

Ciattarelli, and Republicans in general across New Jersey, were relying on a strong Election Day showing by unaffiliated voters who tend to vote for conservatives when they show up to vote. Voters also cast ballots in state assembly and municipal elections.

A Nov. 1 New Jersey Decision of Elections update shows there are 2.53 million Democrats, 2.36 million unaffiliated, and 1.67 million Republicans among the state’s 6.63 million registered voters. The GOP has grown by nearly 31,000 voters in 2025 while registered Democrats have declined by more than 11,000.

In the last 10 days of the campaign, a series of polls indicated the race was tightening, with Sherrill’s lead a slim 1 percentage point.

After President Donald Trump amassed 100,000 more votes in 2024 than he did in 2020, losing New Jersey to Democrat Kamala Harris by less than 6 percentage points—the closest a Republican presidential candidate has come to winning in New Jersey since 1992—it appeared momentum was favoring Ciattarelli.

Those unaffiliated voter numbers and momentum, however, didn’t go Ciattarelli’s way.

The 2025 New Jersey governor’s race was the most expensive in state history, with more than $145 million spent by October and, likely, more than $200 million by Election Day, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Sherrill had raised more than $17.5 million and Ciattarelli more than $16.5 million, but the bulk of the spending by Oct. 9—around $85 million of the $145 million—was by “independent expenditure committees,” political action committees, nonprofits, and industry groups.

Both candidates have been boosted by big-ticket party endorsers with former President Barack Obama, New Jersey’s two Democratic U.S. Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker, the Democratic governors of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Maryland, and former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joining Sherrill on the stump.

Fox News host Sean Hannity covered a Ciattarelli rally, and 2024 GOP primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has campaigned with him. Trump also enthusiastically endorsed him on social media, twice calling into his rallies.

The 2025 race again underscored the increasing importance of early voting and mail-in ballot voting in New Jersey.

More than 1.33 million of New Jersey’s 6.6 million registered voters had cast their ballots before Election Day, according to The Associated Press Advance Vote Tracker.

Nearly 750,000 were cast in-person during the state’s Oct. 25 to Nov. 2 early voting period and more than 615,000 are mail-in ballots. AP’s tracker shows 56 percent of early voters—about 700,000—are from registered Democrats; 27 percent, around 350,000, are GOP registrants; and 17 percent, about 225,000, by unaffiliated or independent voters.

“They always say we’re loud, but man, with this vote, you guys just screamed from the rooftop,” Sherrill told a crowd of supporters in a victory speech.

She vowed to declare a state of emergency on her first day in office to “drive down your utility costs.” Sherrill also promised to expand resources in schools “to address the mental health crisis.”

“I’m going to hold government accountable, balancing individual liberty with collective responsibility, ensuring people are safe, healthy, educated, and free to pursue their dreams,” she said.