Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) won the New Jersey gubernatorial race on Tuesday after defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli, the third time he’s lost a bid for governor of the blue state.
The Associated Press called the race for Sherrill at 9:23 p.m., over an hour after the polls closed. Sherrill won with 56.9% of the vote to Ciattarelli’s 42.5% at the time the race was called.
Sherrill’s win caps off a competitive battle between the two candidates, with the congresswoman successfully able to hold onto her narrow lead. Though Ciattarelli trailed Sherrill in the polls for much of the general election season, as of last week, an Emerson College poll found the candidates locked in a dead heat.
But Sherrill entered election week with an average lead of 3.3 points, per Real Clear Politics, and gathered enough support from voters to maintain her narrow advantage. Her victory aligns with a trend in the state, where voters have elected a governor from the opposite party of the president in the White House every election from 1989 to 2017.
In the weeks leading up to her victory, Sherrill held several rallies across the state. She spoke to voters on Tuesday morning as she arrived to vote in her hometown of Montclair, as well as held a large rally in Essex County on Saturday featuring her fellow House Democrats, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and former President Barack Obama.
Big names were a staple of Sherrill’s last campaign days, with Booker and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), as well as Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin, holding rallies for the congresswoman as she sought to maintain her razor-thin lead over Ciattarelli.
Sherrill’s win is a victory for Obama, in particular, who has stepped back into the political fray. The race in New Jersey and a gubernatorial race in Virginia, also held Tuesday, were tests to see whether he still held considerable influence over the Democratic electorate.
The congresswoman’s win is also a severe blow to President Donald Trump, who endorsed Ciattarelli. The New Jersey governor’s race is one of the first major contests to come after the 2024 election, and it serves as a temperature check on the GOP trifecta and its agenda in Washington.
Though New Jersey has historically been a blue state, Republicans threw millions into this race behind Ciattarelli, and the president held tele-rallies for the candidate, as well. Ciattarelli himself remained confident he’d “deliver a win” for the state, but he was unable to get the votes.
Eyes were on Passaic County this year, as the once-blue stronghold flipped and voted for Trump in 2024. The county previously went for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 52 points in 2016 and 16 points for former President Joe Biden in 2020.
But as of 9:51 p.m., Sherrill was leading Ciattarelli in the county, 59.9% to 39.5%.
With Sherrill’s win, it’s unclear when her seat in the U.S. House will be filled. Sherrill did not have to resign from her seat to run for governor. If she resigns her seat soon after Tuesday’s victory, it would likely trigger a special election to fill her seat as early as late January or early February.
2025 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST ON RACES IN VIRGINIA, NEW JERSEY, AND NEW YORK
The Democratic field to replace Sherrill is filling up. Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel and former Obama administration official Cammie Croft have launched bids already, though both had said they wouldn’t run for the seat if Sherrill lost. At least eight other Democrats are speculated to hop into the race.
One Republican, Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, launched a campaign in the beginning of October. Though, he will likely have an uphill battle as the 11th Congressional District voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points in 2024.