With Election Day, November 4, New Jerseyians are making their final decisions on who should be the new governor. The democratic candidate Mikie Sherrill, who represents New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1994 and then earned a Master’s degree in Global History from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She worked as a lawyer and also joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey after earning a law degree from Georgetown University. She was raised in cities up and down the East Coast but now resides in Montclair, NJ. The Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a Master’s of Business Administration in Finance from Seton Hall University. He has also been a certified public accountant and grew up in New Jersey. He previously represented the 16th legislative district in the New Jersey General Assembly, and was also the Republican nominee in the 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election.
Sherrill’s top priorities are affordability, with plans to declare a state of emergency on utility costs for one year. She plans to decrease the cost of rising utility bills by transitioning to solar energy, one of the cheapest kinds of energy, to lower costs while also making New Jersey greener. Sherrill wants to lower income taxes by expanding the state Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and wants to close tax loopholes for the wealthy and increase resources for the state’s Business Action Center. Another priority for her is to ensure children have a great education and are safe. She plans to make education good for everyone by either evaluating county-based systems that are less efficient or pushing tutoring for certain students. She said she’d increase access to loans and tax credits to provide incentives for the development of new housing to make housing more affordable. She is pro-choice and supports abortion up to 20 weeks and wants to uphold constitutional rights. Regarding immigration, she expressed that criminals should be deported, but she also believes in due process. With her husband being a commuter, she has seen that the transportation system is not as efficient as it could be, urging a push into transit-oriented development. Overall, her policies are more progressive, with her even calling herself a “good old-fashioned Democrat,” with Barack Obama urging New Jerseyans to vote for her.
Ciattarelli also promises to improve affordability primarily through lowering taxes and electricity bills, proposing to cut and cap property taxes. He has a regional approach to affordable housing, with a focus on driving population growth to urban centers, due to overdevelopment concerns. He has pledged to repeal the Immigrant Trust Directive on his first day in office and stop municipalities from declaring themselves “sanctuary cities.” He believes that abortion should not be funded by the state and respects people’s sexual orientations, but believes that education should have more parental involvement, and believes that gender sexuality should not be in the school curriculum. He promises a better management structure, transparency, and accountability by putting all of the state’s mass transit systems under one roof — the Garden State Transportation Authority. Ciattarelli also promised to restore cost-of-living adjustments for police and fire pensions and suspend the Murphy administration policies that are unrealistic and unaffordable, including the ban on gas-powered vehicles by 2035. He has received the endorsement of President Donald Trump during the primary and connected with voters by reminding them he was born, raised, and educated in New Jersey.
According to New York Times, AtlasIntel showed that the race is close with Sherrill on top with a 50% rating versus Ciattarelli’s 49% rating. With the last day to vote early being Sunday, November 11, 6 p.m., it comes down to on election day, November 4, polls opened from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Shortly after polls closed, it was revealed that Mikie Sherrill will be the Governor of New Jersey for the next four years.
