Overview
- The Associated Press and Decision Desk HQ projected Sherrill the winner as early returns showed roughly 57% to 43%, giving Democrats three straight gubernatorial victories for the first time since the 1960s.
- The four-term congresswoman and former Navy helicopter pilot will succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy and become New Jersey’s second female governor after Christine Todd Whitman.
- The contest tested President Trump’s sway as he endorsed and campaigned for Ciattarelli, while Democrats highlighted the Gateway Tunnel funding freeze to tie the Republican to the White House.
- Democrats banked a substantial early-vote advantage—about 51% Democratic to 29% Republican among early and mail ballots—that countered late tightening in public polls.
- Late-stage turbulence included a National Archives release of Sherrill’s largely unredacted military records that drew an inspector-general review, plus Election Day emailed bomb threats that authorities deemed unfounded.