Democrat Mikie Sherrill to be sworn in as New Jersey's 57th governor
[January 20, 2026]
By MIKE CATALINI
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mikie Sherrill, the four-term congresswoman and
former Navy helicopter pilot who cast her November election in New
Jersey as a victory over President Donald Trump's vision for the
country, is set to be inaugurated as the state's 57th governor on
Tuesday.
Sherrill, 54, will be just the second woman to lead the state of nearly
9.5 million people and is the first person from a major political party
to be elected to a third straight term in more than six decades,
succeeding two-term Democrat Phil Murphy.
She swept to victory over her Trump-endorsed GOP rival in part by
pinning blame for high costs on the president's tariffs and promising
that her first action once in office would be to order a freeze on
skyrocketing utility rates.
She will be sworn in Newark, the state's largest city whose voters made
up a key component of her winning coalition. It is a departure from
previous inaugurations, which have included military artillery salutes
along the Delaware River outside the statehouse in Trenton.
She is being sworn in as her former congressional colleague Abigail
Spanberger comes into office in as Virginia's governor after a similar
double-digit victory over her Republican opponent and as the midterm
elections start to come into sharper focus. Democrats are hopeful the
president will be a drag on GOP candidates in key races across the
country.
Sherrill takes over from Murphy, a former Obama administration
ambassador and Wall Street finance executive, who delivered on a number
of progressive promises over eight years, including raising taxes on
income over $1 million, boosting the minimum wage, expanding early
childhood education and fully funding the state workers' pension, which
was underfunded for years before he took over.
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New Jersey Gov.-elect Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., left, prepares
for a television interview at the U.S. Capitol, Wednesday, Nov. 12,
2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)
Murphy said Friday in his final news conference that he has been in
regular touch with Sherrill about the transition. He summed up his
two terms as governor as having lived up to promises he made on the
campaign trail.
“We were who we said would be,” Murphy said. “We didn’t campaign on
my thesis and pull a fast one.”
He is also passing along a state budget that has swelled over the
years, raising the prospect of potential shortfalls if state
revenues dip as well as an unfunded promise to continue a property
tax relief program begun in the governor’s second term.
Sherrill will have a Democrat-led Legislature to work with, one of
more than a dozen where the party controls the legislature and
governorship.
The first woman to be governor of New Jersey is Christine Todd
Whitman, a two-term Republican who went on to serve as George W.
Bush's Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
New Jersey's governorship has often switched back and forth between
the parties. The last time the same party prevailed in a third
straight gubernatorial election was in 1961.
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