‘no Bulls--t About Her’: Mikie Sherrill Will Quickly Be Put To The Test As New Jersey Governor

New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday will join the ranks of Democratic governors across the country who have adopted the simple mantra of getting stuff done.

In the most recent Trump era, that could be a challenge.

In the year since President Donald Trump reentered the White House, Democratic governors have been thrust into the spotlight as they grapple with a dearth of federal funding and an aggressive administration that’s targeted blue states.

Sherrill, who had a blowout win in November to capture a third term in a row for Democrats — a feat that has not been accomplished in six decades in the Garden State — will also have to contend with issues that have long plagued New Jersey, like rising costs and a budget that a progressive think tank said is “full of fiscal threats.”

Along with Abigail Spanberger, who was sworn in as Virginia’s governor Saturday, Sherrill will be “first up to bat” to deliver on the promise of addressing affordability that resonated with voters in November, as outgoing New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy put it.

Sherrill, a 54-year-old mother of four, vowed throughout her campaign to push back against the “status quo,” and has since ushered in a Cabinet composed of new faces, some of whom are largely unknown in Trenton and others who are brand new to the state — making how they will govern an open question.

When asked how she will approach the governorship, allies of Sherrill are quick to point to her stacked resume as a Navy helicopter pilot, federal prosecutor and a four-term member of Congress — experiences that they say provide her with the groundwork to confront these challenges, particularly from the federal government.

“To know Mikie is to know: No. 1, she is super real and authentic,” said Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. “No. 2, she is a normal person, a regular person, and she understands the normal stuff that people are wrestling with and challenged by. And No. 3, she is and has had a life and a career that has been focused, disciplined and effective in problem solving, being pragmatic and getting things done.”

More and more members of Congress have looked to the states to carry on their political careers, as Congress becomes exceedingly difficult to govern in — a gridlock that is acutely felt for Democrats in the minority. But Sherrill is set to enter the role on an upswing for the Democratic Party: After bruising losses across the country in 2024, Democrats had strong performances last November in response to voters’ discontent with the Trump administration. In New Jersey, she’ll have the benefit of a supermajority in the state Assembly, the largest Democratic majority since Watergate.

As she ran her gubernatorial campaign, Sherrill sought to position herself as a bulwark to the president — a seemingly more aggressive stance than Murphy, who has had a relationship with Trump. But Sen. Cory Booker said that he does not think she will fight with the president for the sake of a fight, and will be open to collaborating with him.

“She's not a lightning rod in terms of her being tribal,” he said. “She's really a conciliator, someone who is a unifier, someone that can work on both sides of the aisle, and that's very Jersey, frankly. We're not a highly, wildly partisan state.”

Still, some of the most pressing issues her administration faces are slashed federal spending and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will result in either cuts in programs or a scramble to find alternative funding.

“Federal threats significantly raise the stakes for this administration,” said Nicole Rodriguez, president of the New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank. “Thankfully, she can navigate that with having more information and more experience on the federal side, and how it affects state decisions. I think it's going to be an asset for New Jersey.”

Longtime Sherrill staffer and soon-to-be chief operating officer Kellie Doucette pointed to Sherrill’s work during her time in Congress finding alternate funding revenues to address flooding as an example of her problem solving when it comes to federal funding. Doucette also recalled that when she first won her congressional seat in 2018 — then a longtime Republican district — Sherrill “really understood that we were coming into a constituency that didn’t know us” and made an effort to “show up and do the work and earn trust.”

“It would’ve been really easy to come in with a lot of arrogance because we had that big flip, and it immediately struck me how totally opposite her tone was,” she said. “That type of quiet leadership ended up being really what laid the groundwork for her to be able to come into this role now. She just really understood the importance of constituent services and being responsive. None of this is the sexy part of governing. But it's the stuff that really matters to people.”

Concerns about infrastructure also loom over the state, particularly regarding the Gateway project to build a new train tunnel under the Hudson River connecting New York and New Jersey. Late last year, Trump said he was freezing funding for the project, and last week Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Trump that it urgently needs money.

Sherrill has long been engaged on Gateway, especially as she represented a North Jersey, commuter-heavy district. Anthony Coscia, chair of the Amtrak board of directors, said that Sherrill has supported it during the “good times and not so good times” and commended her “heartfelt curiosity for how to explore ways of making the system run better.”

“She is an unbelievable example of someone who understands the actual lived experience, because it's her lived experience,” he said. “She doesn't look at these things in some sort of abstract way that don't apply to her. They all apply to her. I mean, her husband commutes by rail, her neighbors commute by rail. She sort of understands the issue associated with mobility and the problems that happen when that mobility is not available to people.”

Booker said that a good indicator of how Sherrill will govern is not just based on her track record in Congress — but her time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. He recalled “rolling up our sleeves” with Sherrill to address guns in New Jersey.

“It was refreshing to me that she was non-ideological — and was sort of a very brass tacks, focused on what makes a difference — and not caring about whose foot might be stepped on when it came to the safety of our city,” he said. “And I really appreciated that — there was no bullshit about her.”

She’s hitting the ground running, including her plan to sign an executive order to freeze energy costs, a campaign promise that resonated with residents who are dealing with skyrocketing utility bills.

But the transition has come with its bumps: It recently sent written requests for resignations to career public servants, which led to confusion. The Sherrill transition said that it does not intend to ask for mass resignations and would clarify the requests only apply to political appointees.

Another immediate issue the Sherrill administration will need to tackle is the state budget, which has a $1.5 billion structural deficit, meaning the state is spending more than it takes in. The incoming administration has repeatedly said that there will be no tax increases in the first budget. Sherrill is also inheriting a $6.7 billion surplus. Murphy said he’s “completely confident” that she will “find a way through this.”

“The whole thing she's done, she's got a great attitude, she's smart,” he said. “I think she's, ‘I want to find a way to get to yes.’”

Daniel Han and Ry Rivard contributed to this report.