Gov.-Elect Sherrill Says Voters’ Concerns About Affordability Fueled Her Victory

On Nov 5, 2025

Fresh off her election night win, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America program, where co-host George Stephanopoulos asked her about her historic win. Sherrill is the state’s first Democratic woman governor. Her election also marks the first time a political party has won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state in 60 years. Additionally, numerous polls prior to the election were predicting a neck-and-neck race between Sherrill and Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli. However, Sherrill won the race garnering 56.2% of the vote (1,792,760 votes) to Ciattarelli’s 42.2% (1,378,391 votes).

Asked what she thought fueled her victory, Sherril said she listened to what was on the minds of thousands of New Jerseyans. “It was affordability. It was housing. It was healthcare and utility costs. So, I built back that juggernaut – that big Democratic coalition … of white working-class suburbs and Black and Latino voters across the state,” she said.

When asked if she thought her victory was a referendum on President Donald Trump, Sherrill pointed to the impacts of his tariffs, which she said are making small businesses close and causing larger companies to freeze hiring. Additionally, she said that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was taking healthcare away from many Americans and delivering up to 175% premium increases for others. She also discussed Trump’s threatened termination of the Gateway Tunnel project, which she called an endeavor of national significance that would create up to 100,000 jobs.

Asked by Stephanopoulos if she could “stop Trump,” Sherrill stayed on the Gateway topic, saying that the president ending the project is illegal because Congress appropriated the money. “So, I will certainly be in court working hard to stop him,” she said, continuing that the tunnel project “is a key economic investment in an area of the country that produces about 20% of the nation’s GDP.

“Given how poor the economy [is doing] under this [president’s] administration, I want to make the case that if we are going to create some economic success, New Jersey is the place to do it,” Sherrill said.

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