In the lead-up to Tuesday’s gubernatorial election in New Jersey, some Democrats wondered if Mikie Sherrill could pull off the improbable: winning three consecutive terms for the party for the first time since 1961.
But Sherrill was confident she would emerge victorious.
Sherrill said Wednesday in an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns on “The Conversation” podcast that she “never really felt too nervous about my ability to win this one.”
As early voting got underway, it became clear that it was “just a matter of how much we’d win by,” Sherrill said.
“The narrative was weird in the primary, and it was weird in the general, and I think some of that was because of how people felt from ’24, that there was still this kind of hangover from ’24 and how that race went,” she told POLITICO.
Still, the enthusiasm on the ground — especially at last month’s nationwide “No Kings” rallies — convinced Sherrill that voters would deliver for her.
Sherrill speculated that some observers underestimated her campaign because it didn’t follow the model of “the traditional Democratic campaign” in New Jersey, where the legacy of machine politics looms large.
“Because we built this a different way, I think it wasn’t as clear to people how we were doing it and how we were getting our votes out,” she said. “And I think that probably made some people nervous, but I would say that we invested a lot of time, energy and resources in a statewide field program, the likes of which have never been seen.”
Sherrill also said that her military background conveyed her “decisive” leadership style to voters, who she said trust her to deliver on promises like bringing down energy costs.
While she said she hasn’t yet spoken to President Donald Trump, the governor-elect told POLITICO that she’s intent on “clawing back as many resources into the state of New Jersey as possible.”
“I’m really hoping we can convince the administration, ‘hey, if you want to have a comeback in this economy, this is where you start and this is how you do it,’” she said.
Despite striking a message comfortably to the right of New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Sherrill said she and her Democratic peers who saw electoral success across the board Tuesday have one thing in common: “This desire to make change that things aren’t working for people.”
Listen to POLITICO’s full conversation with Sherill on Friday’s episode of “The Conversation.”
A version of this article first appeared in POLITICO Pro’s Morning Score. Want to receive the newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
