As term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) leaves his spot at the helm of New Jersey this year, his eyes will be on Garden State next week as it is one of just two states with off-year gubernatorial elections.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli will face off on Tuesday, as Sherrill fights to translate her polling lead into voting results and as Ciattarelli hopes to flip the executive from blue back to red. Though Sherrill has maintained a lead in most of the polling, Ciattarelli has gained significant traction over the course of the race, even tying Sherrill in one Emerson College poll from September, and has turned Election Day into a serious competition.
The race has been no short of dogged, as insults between the candidates on the debate stage have led to archives investigations and defamation lawsuit threats. Ciattarelli has attacked Sherrill for not walking at her Naval Academy graduation due to a cheating scandal, which Sherrill has said she did not take part in and was only punished for not revealing the names of her classmates involved. Sherrill has blasted Ciattarelli for allegedly profiting from New Jersey’s opioid crisis through his medical publishing company, a claim which Ciattarelli has called a lie and threatened to sue over.
But in between the cutting insults, the two have had gritty policy debates and have each managed to thoroughly articulate their platforms to New Jersey voters. Both candidates have focused on issues such as government transparency, housing, everyday affordability concerns in the pricey state, and energy systems, as the Garden State continues at the epicenter of the windmill debate.
The stakes are high for both parties, leading the Department of Justice to send election monitors, at the request of the New Jersey GOP, to a closely watched, typically blue county with a significant Latino population. Passaic County tells the story of a state that could be turning more purple, as President Donald Trump won the county with 49.8% of the vote in 2024, while former President Joe Biden won it with 57.7% in 2020.
Less than one week out from Election Day, here’s what to know about the two candidates duking it out in the Garden State:
Mikie Sherrill
A mother of four children, Sherrill is the congresswoman for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, a former Navy helicopter pilot, and a former federal prosecutor in New Jersey. She has represented New Jersey in the House since 2019.
Sherrill launched her bid to be New Jersey’s next governor in November 2024 and defeated five other candidates in the Democratic primary, including Sean Spiller, the head of the New Jersey Education Association, and Ras Baraka and Steven Fulop, the mayors of Newark and Jersey City.
Sherrill’s Top Platform Issues
Running as more center-left than some of her more progressive primary challengers, Sherrill has kept focused on the everyday so-called kitchen table issues in her general election platform. Sherrill highlights affordability, housing, and healthcare costs at the top of her “on the issues” section of her campaign website, discussing all three in her affordability agenda.
To lower the cost of housing, she proposes cracking down on bad-acting landlords and lenders and using tax credits to incentivize strategic development.
“We should work collaboratively with local governments on the conversion of underused office parks, strip malls, and industrial properties into homes, transit-oriented development, and mixed-use projects, which increases housing inventory while minimizing sprawl,” Sherrill writes in her agenda.
She has spoken often about her platform to declare a state of emergency on energy costs, which she highlighted in her 30-second opening statement at the second debate. Sherrill says she would streamline bureaucratic approvals for clean energy projects and “prioritize and support low-cost, in-state clean energy investments and innovations to bring down rates for families by increasing power generation and expanding capacity.”
Regarding healthcare costs, Sherrill says her administration would focus on holding pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, and health insurance companies accountable, making PBMs pass on full pharmaceutical discounts to consumers and requiring insurance companies to “publicly disclose and justify premium increases.”
Sherrill’s full platform is available on her website.
Notable Endorsements
Sherrill holds endorsements from the NJEA, the American Federation of Government Employees, and New Jersey’s first female governor, Christine Todd Whitman.
She has also received support from prominent national Democratic leaders, including former President Barack Obama, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), and New Jersey’s neighboring Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA). Obama will be out stumping for Sherrill in the lead-up to Election Day.
Sherrill’s pick for lieutenant governor is Dale Caldwell, Centenary University president.
Jack Ciattarelli
A father of four children, Ciattarelli describes himself as a “life-long Jersey guy.” He is also a businessman and the former owner of Galen Publishing LLC. He has served in local, county, and state political positions, first on the Raritan Borough Council, then the Somerset County Freeholder Board, and, most recently, in the State Assembly from 2011 to 2018.
This is Ciattarelli’s third time running for governor of New Jersey. In the 2017 primary race, he lost to former Gov. Chris Christie’s lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno. In 2021, he lost to Murphy by roughly three points in the blue state’s general election.
Ciattarelli launched his 2025 gubernatorial bid in April 2024, besting his two Republican primary opponents in June 2025 with 67% of the vote. Initially a Trump critic and historically more centrist, Ciattarelli coalesced the MAGA vote and earned himself a Trump endorsement.
Ciattarelli’s Top Platform Issues
Ciattarelli’s platform highlights issues such as affordability, law and order, responsible development, and healthcare and government reform. The top three platform tenets on his website are “make New Jersey affordable again,” “reforming government so it works for the people,” and “encouraging participation in fair and honest elections.”
In his affordability plan, Ciattarelli proposes capping “property taxes to a percentage of assessed home value,” reducing the state government’s spending by 30%, and reducing all income taxes and the corporate business tax. Ciattarelli also says he plans on “refunding the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition for anyone who attends college here, and then lives and works in the state for a minimum of three years upon graduation.”
In his government reform plan, Ciattarelli uses a well-known acronym by proposing to create the NJDOGE, the state Department of Government Efficiency, to eliminate wasteful spending and consolidate unelected government boards. A Ciattarelli administration would also enact term limits for state legislators and mandate in-person work requirements for state employees.
Ciattarelli says his housing plan supports affordable housing and looks quite different from Sherrill’s. He proposes stopping the “suburban sprawl” by putting an end to overdevelopment in small communities that can’t support it.
He says he would support a “regional approach — focused on driving population growth to transit hubs and urban centers, where self-sustaining local economies are desperately needed.” He also says he supports “impact fees on new warehouse development to ensure that when infrastructure improvements are necessitated by the development, the developer pays for it.”
NJ ELEC VOTES TO ALLOW CIATTARELLI TO SUE SHERRILL FOR DEFAMATION DURING CAMPAIGN
Notable Endorsements
Ciattarelli’s biggest endorsement comes from Trump, who has been posting his name on Truth Social and stumping for him at virtual rallies. Ciattarelli also has support from former Gov. Tom Kean and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Republican has received endorsements from organizations such as the NJ State Fraternal Order of Police, the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance, and the New Jersey State Retired Police and Firemen’s Association.
Ciattarelli’s pick for lieutenant governor is Jim Gannon, Morris County sheriff.
