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Who is Mikie Sherrill, Navy veteran now elected second woman governor of New Jersey?
Mikie Sherrill, the new governor of New Jersey, has served for over nine years in the Navy after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1994.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill has defeated her Republican rival Jack Ciattarelli to be elected as the next and second woman governor of New Jersey on Tuesday. In what has been a big night for Democrats, Zohran Mamdani has been elected the mayor of New York City and Abigail Spanberger also picked up a comfortable win in Virginia’s governor race.
Follow New York mayor election live updates here.
Sherrill’s win adds to the sweeping performance by Democrats, who have largely been kept out of power in Washington and have been seeking a clear path forward ever since Donald Trump assumed office.
Who is Mikie Sherrill?
A Navy veteran and four-term representative from northern New Jersey, Sherrill will take over from term-limited Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, becoming the first time since 1961 that the same party has held the New Jersey governor’s office for three consecutive terms.
She served for over nine years in the Navy after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1994, participating in missions in Europe and working as a Russian policy officer. After leaving the Navy, she went to Georgetown University Law School and later practised at a New York City law firm, according to The New York Times.
In 2015, she joined the office of then-US attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey as a prosecutor, staying for roughly a year.
Sherrill is married to Jason Hedberg, her former classmate at the Naval Academy, and they have four children.
During her speech, Sherrill criticised the US president for “ripping away” health care and targeting the SNAP food aid programme. She also spoke against a decision affecting New Jersey specifically: the cancellation of a project to expand train access to New York City.
“Governors have never mattered more,” she said. “And in this state, I am determined to build prosperity for all of us.”
Democrats sweep governors, mayor polls
Democrats performed strongly in the first major Election Day since Trump returned to the White House. Trump stayed mostly off the campaign trail, while Republican candidates tied themselves closely to him, hoping that his big win last year could help them, despite the usual trend of the party in power losing ground in off-year elections.
Now, Democrats hope that the results could help the party regain national influence, even though their leading candidates have followed very different strategies.
With inputs from agencies
