Mikie Sherrill | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Governor-elect of New Jersey | |
| Assuming office January 20, 2026 | |
| Lieutenant | Dale Caldwell (elect) |
| Succeeding | Phil Murphy |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's11th district | |
| In office January 3, 2019 – November 20, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Rodney Frelinghuysen |
| Succeeded by | TBD |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rebecca Michelle Sherrill (1972-01-19)January 19, 1972 (age 53) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Jason Hedberg |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | |
| Website | Campaign website |
| Military service | |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Service years | 1994–2003 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | Naval aviation |
Rebecca Michelle "Mikie"Sherrill[1][2] (/ˈmaɪkiʃɛrəl/MY-keeSHERR-əl; born January 19, 1972)[3] is an American politician, formernaval officer, and formerfederal prosecutor who is thegovernor-elect of New Jersey.[4] A member of theDemocratic Party, she defeatedRepublican nomineeJack Ciattarelli in the2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election.[5]
Sherrill served as theU.S. representative forNew Jersey's 11th congressional district from 2019 until her resignation in 2025.[6]
Sherrill was born inAlexandria, Virginia.[2] She grew up in various places along theEast Coast of the United States due to her father's job.[2][7]
Sherrill attendedSouth Lakes High School inReston, Virginia from 1986 to 1990, participating in the school's marching band.[8][9][10] In 1994, she earned herBachelor of Science from theUnited States Naval Academy inAnnapolis, Maryland.[1] In 2003, Sherrill received anMSc in international and world history from theLondon School of Economics. In 2004, she received a certificate in Arabic language from theAmerican University in Cairo. In 2007, Sherrill earned aJuris Doctor from theGeorgetown University Law Center.[11]
Inspired by her grandfather who served as a pilot inWorld War II, Sherrill wanted to be a pilot from an early age.[11] She was among the flight school graduates in the first class of women eligible for direct assignment to fly combat aircraft.[12] Sherrill graduated from the Naval Academy in 1994.
She later completed over a year of flight training, was designated as aNaval Aviator after graduation from the advanced rotary-wing training pipeline atNAS Whiting Field, Florida, and became aU.S. Navy helicopter pilot, flying theH-3 Sea King.[2] Sherrill flew missions throughout Europe and in the Middle East.[7][11] In 2000, she was based atNaval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.
Following her first operational sea duty assignment in a flying squadron, Sherrill was a Russian policy officer assigned to the then-Headquarters,Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe (CINCUSNAVEUR).[2][13]
Sherrill served on active duty in the U.S. Navy for nine years, the last five with the rank oflieutenant.[14]
In mid-2007, while earning herJuris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Sherrill was a summerassociate atKirkland & Ellis.[15] After graduation from Georgetown University Law Center, Sherrill returned to Kirkland & Ellis'sNew York City office, where she worked in the litigation department from 2008 to 2011.[16]
After leaving Kirkland & Ellis, Sherrill joined the United States Attorney's Office as an outreach and reentry coordinator.[17] In 2015, Sherrill became a federal prosecutor, as anassistant United States Attorney for theDistrict of New Jersey, working under U.S. AttorneyPaul Fishman.[2][18] She left that office in 2016.[7] At the time, she planned on going into the field ofcriminal justice reform.[11]
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On May 11, 2017, Sherrill launched her campaign forNew Jersey's 11th congressional district in theUnited States House of Representatives.[19][20] The seat had been held by 12-term Republican incumbentRodney Frelinghuysen, the chairman of theHouse Appropriations Committee, who in January 2018 announced he would not seek reelection.[10][21][22] The district had long been considered a Republican stronghold, even after it had been made slightly more Democratic on paper by pushing it further intoEssex County, including a slice ofMontclair around Sherrill's home. Frelinghuysen had been reelected three more times in this redrawn district without serious difficulty, but was thought to be vulnerable afterDonald Trump carried it by one percentage point in 2016.[23]
In November 2017, comedianChelsea Handler, who is fromLivingston, went to Montclair to support Sherrill's campaign.[24] Sherrill was endorsed by thepolitical action committee organizationVoteVets.org,[25] thepro-choice Democratic PACEMILY's List,[26] the editorial board ofThe New York Times,[27] and the New Jersey chapter ofClean Water Action.[28]
In June 2018, Sherrill won the Democratic primary with 77% of the vote, beating four other candidates.[29][30][31]
Sherrill raised $2.8 million during the primary election, placing her among the top House fundraisers in the country.[32][33] Her campaign raised $1.9 million in the second quarter of 2018, setting a record for a House candidate from New Jersey in one quarter.[34]
On November 6, Sherrill defeated Republican nomineeJay Webber with 56.8% of the vote to Webber's 42.1%.[35][36] The election marked the largest partisan vote share swing in the 2018 cycle, with a 33-percentage-point swing from a 19-point Republican margin in 2016 to a 15-point Democratic one in 2018.[37][38] Sherrill is the first Democrat to win this seat since 16-term incumbentJoseph Minish was defeated in 1984 after the district had been redrawn to be more Republican.[39] She was the first Democrat since Minish's defeat to win more than 40% of the district's vote.
Sherrill had a closer contest for reelection in 2020, defeating Republican tax lawyer Rosemary Becchi, 53.3% to 46.7%. That yearJoe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the 11th district since it assumed its present configuration in 1984, carrying the district with 52.7% of the vote.[40][41]
With redistricting following the2020 census, the 11th District became somewhat friendlier for Sherrill. It was pushed further into Essex County while losing its share of heavily RepublicanSussex County. Had the district existed in 2020, Biden would have carried it with 58% of the vote.[42] Sherrill won by a much wider margin than in 2020, defeating Republican nominee Paul DeGroot, 59% to 40.2%.[43]
In 2024, Sherrill easily won the Democratic primary over real estate consultant Mark De Lotto with 93.6% of the vote.[44] In the general election, she was reelected with 56.5% of the vote overBelleville building inspector Joseph Belnome. Sherrill outperformed the Democratic Party's concurrent nominees for president and Senate, asKamala Harris won 53% of the district's vote andAndy Kim won 54%.[45] TheNew Jersey Globe partially attributed Belnome's political unpopularity to his attendance at theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack.[44]
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Following her election, Sherrill joined the moderateNew Democrat Coalition, the second-largest Democratic caucus in the House, and was named its freshman whip.[46] She also joined theBlue Dog Coalition, a caucus ofmoderate andconservative House Democrats, but left the group in 2023.[47] She joined two other female veterans in the Democratic freshman class, fellow Naval Academy graduateElaine Luria and former Air Force officerChrissy Houlahan.
Per a promise to her constituents, Sherrill did not vote forNancy Pelosi to retake the speakership, instead voting forCheri Bustos ofIllinois.[48] She voted "present", essentially an abstention, in her second speakership vote.[49]
In 2019, Sherrill initially opposed exploring the first impeachment of PresidentDonald Trump, but reversed course in September after a whistleblower alleged that Trump pressured Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden.[50] According to one report, Sherrill was instrumental in motivating Speaker Pelosi to proceed with the impeachment inquiry and said her "grave concerns" about Trump's behavior were "rooted in self-sacrifice and principle".[51] An op-ed she co-wrote with six other freshman Democrats with national security backgrounds—Houlahan, Luria,Gil Cisneros,Jason Crow,Elissa Slotkin andAbigail Spanberger—said that "everything we do harks back to our oaths to defend the country" and described the claims against Trump as "a threat to all we have sworn to protect".[52] Sherrill, Slotkin and Spanberger were described as the "mod squad", a moderate alternative to theprogressive "squad".[53][54]
Sherrill indicated her support for a second impeachment of Trump after the2021 United States Capitol attack.[55] She said she had seen some colleagues giving what she called "reconnaissance tours" of the building the day before the attack.[56][57][58]
Sherrill voted with President Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the117th Congress, according to aFiveThirtyEight analysis.[59] She voted with Biden 92.6% of the time in the 118th Congress through 2023, while Democrats in Congress voted with Biden 93% of the time on average during that period.[60]
On February 1, 2023, Sherrill was among 12 Democrats to vote for a resolution to end the COVID-19 national emergency.[61][62]
In 2023, Sherrill criticized the implementation ofcongestion pricing in lower Manhattan, New York City, calling the congestion pricing plan "New York's greedy cash grab from New Jersey commuters".[63]
On July 9, 2024, Sherrill became the seventh House member to publicly request that Biden step aside as the presumptiveDemocratic nominee in the2024 United States presidential election.[64]
Sherrill resigned from Congress at 11:59 PM on November 20, 2025, after winning the2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election.[6]
For the119th Congress:[65]
Sherrill launched her campaign for governor in November 2024.[75] In the Democratic primary on June 10, 2025, she won the nomination with 34% of the vote, defeating mayorsRas Baraka andSteven Fulop ofNewark andJersey City, respectively.[76] She faced Republican nomineeJack Ciattarelli in the November 4 general election.
Despite several late polls indicating that the vote would be close,[77] Sherrill won the election decisively with 56.6% of the vote to Ciattarelli's 42.9%.[78] Her win made her the second woman and the first Democratic woman to be governor of New Jersey, as well as the first female military veteran to be a governor of any U.S. state.[79][80]
Sherrill is married to Jason Hedberg, a classmate and graduate of theUnited States Naval Academy,[81][82] who served as aU.S. Navy intelligence officer. The couple has lived inMontclair with their four children since 2010.[11][7] She isRoman Catholic.[83]
During most of her time in Congress, Sherrill roomed with colleagueAbigail Spanberger, who was electedgovernor of Virginia during the same2025 election cycle as Sherrill.[84]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill | 35,338 | 77.4 | |
| Democratic | Tamara Harris | 6,615 | 14.5 | |
| Democratic | Mark Washburne | 1,538 | 3.4 | |
| Democratic | Alison Heslin | 1,253 | 2.7 | |
| Democratic | Mitchell H. Cobert | 885 | 1.9 | |
| Total votes | 45,629 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill | 183,684 | 56.8 | |
| Republican | Jay Webber | 136,322 | 42.1 | |
| Independent | Robert Crook | 2,182 | 0.7 | |
| Libertarian | Ryan Martinez | 1,386 | 0.4 | |
| Total votes | 323,574 | 100.0 | ||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill (incumbent) | 79,961 | 100.0 | |
| Total votes | 79,961 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill (incumbent) | 235,163 | 53.3 | |
| Republican | Rosemary Becchi | 206,013 | 46.7 | |
| Total votes | 441,176 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill (incumbent) | 161,436 | 59.0 | |
| Republican | Paul DeGroot | 109,952 | 40.2 | |
| Libertarian | Joseph Biasco | 2,276 | 0.8 | |
| Total votes | 273,664 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill (incumbent) | 222,583 | 56.5 | |
| Republican | Joseph Belnome | 164,556 | 41.8 | |
| Green | Lily Benavides | 4,780 | 1.2 | |
| Independent | Joshua Lanzara | 1,832 | 0.5 | |
| Total votes | 393,751 | 100.0 | ||
| Democratichold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill | 286,244 | 34.02% | |
| Democratic | Ras Baraka | 173,951 | 20.67% | |
| Democratic | Steven Fulop | 134,573 | 15.99% | |
| Democratic | Josh Gottheimer | 97,384 | 11.57% | |
| Democratic | Sean Spiller | 89,472 | 10.63% | |
| Democratic | Stephen Sweeney | 59,811 | 7.11% | |
| Total votes | 841,435 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Mikie Sherrill Dale Caldwell | 1,894,215 | 56.87% | +5.65% | |
| Republican | Jack Ciattarelli Jim Gannon | 1,416,458 | 42.53% | –5.47% | |
| Libertarian | Vic Kaplan Bruno Pereira | 11,856 | 0.36% | +0.06% | |
| Socialist Workers | Joanne Kuniansky Craig Honts | 8,149 | 0.24% | +0.09% | |
| Total votes | 3,330,678 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratichold | Swing | +5.65% | |||
Rebecca M. Sherrill, U.S. District Attorney
...Sherrill ... had not been in favor of moving forward with the impeachment.... However, she stated that the recent allegation Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden has provided an unambiguous case against the president.
...By citing their past careers 'in the defense of our country,' Sherrill and her colleagues framed their statement as rooted in self-sacrifice and principle, not partisanship....
The average Democratic representative sided with Biden on those votes 93 percent of the time, while the average Republican representative voted with the president 5 percent of the time.
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Data from Wikidata| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 11th congressional district 2019–2025 | Vacant |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of New Jersey 2025 | Most recent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Phil Murphy | Governor of New Jersey Taking office 2026 | Elect |
| Proprietary Province |  | |
|---|---|---|
| East New Jersey | ||
| West New Jersey | ||
| Dominion of New England (1688–89) | ||
| Royal governors |
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| State (since 1776) |
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* UnderN.J.S.A. 52:15-5 (as amended in 2005), an acting governor serving for 180 continuous days or more is conferred the title of Governor. | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
