(upbeat music) - From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Wednesday night.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

We begin with a few stories we'll get into later in the broadcast.

New Jersey has a new governor.

Democrat Mikey Sherrill won in a landslide victory Tuesday night.

We'll recap how the congresswoman and other Democrats swept the state in what many are calling a referendum on the Trump administration.

Then what challenges will the governor-elect face on day one in office?

And can she deliver on her campaign promises?

And later, the longest shutdown in U.S.

history, how are Democrats looking to use their election momentum to spur a compromise?

But first, the election wasn't even close.

After polling consistently showed a narrowing race, Mikey Sherrill handily defeated Republican Jack Ciatarelli by 13 points in a bitter, closely watched race, securing her party a rare third straight term in the seat.

Sherrill made the election a referendum on President Trump's second term, vowing to fight back against his federal policies as Ciatarelli embraced them.

Her win was part of a national Democratic sweep Tuesday that reached all corners of New Jersey, too.

Sheryl won in six counties that Donald Trump took in 2024, including Passaic, by 15 points.

That was a battleground area where the Department of Justice had deployed election observers.

Turnout was higher than expected, with more than 3.2 million total votes cast.

It's the highest number in the history of New Jersey's gubernatorial races.

Meanwhile, a handful of closely watched assembly races are still too close to call today.

All 80 seats were up for grabs, including in South Jersey's District 3, where incumbent Democratic Assembly members Heather Simmons and Dave Bailey are slightly ahead in defending their seats against Republican challengers Chris Connwell and Lawrence Moore.

There was a surprise upset in District 21, the only race where Republicans were trying to hold onto their seats.

Democratic challengers Andrew McCurdy and Vincent Kearney ousted longtime Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz and Michelle Matsakoudis in a district that's been held by the GOP for four decades.

And there could be a surprise upset in Atlantic County's second district, where former Atlantic City Republican Mayor Don Guardian is leading, but his running mate Claire Swift is in third, behind Democrat Maureen Rowan.

We could very well see a split ticket there.

All of it helping Democrats expand to their largest majority in more than 50 years.

Meanwhile, Atlantic City's current mayor, Marty Small, won his re-election bid to a third term despite a looming criminal trial and indictments in a child abuse case.

And in Jersey City, the mayoral runoff is set for December 2nd, where former Governor Jim McGreevy and Councilman James Solomon will face off.

Solomon was the top vote-getter, but neither passed the 50% threshold in a crowded seven-person race, forcing the runoff.

And coming up, what was Mikey Sherrill's path to victory?

We'll give you a recap of the historic win and what her plans are for day one.

That's next.

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Well, the results last night bucked all of the polls that gave Mikey Sherrill just a single-digit lead heading into Election Day.

It was a historic win both for the party and the margin of her success.

As senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports, it was Sherrill's message of economic opportunity set against the backdrop of President Trump's policies that appeared to strike a chord with voters across the state.

They always say we're loud, but man, with this vote, you guys just scream from the rooftops.

In a historic win over her opponent, Governor-elect Mikey Sherrill soared to victory last night with a resounding 56% of the vote.

She'll now become New Jersey's 57th governor, the second woman ever elected to the office, and the first from the Democratic Party.

In this state, I am determined to build prosperity for all of our citizens.

And I've heard from thousands of you about what liberty and prosperity mean to you.

What it's going to take for your family to thrive.

Just a few days ago, the race was considered a dead heat between Cheryl and her Republican opponent Jack Cittarelli.

But for all the concern that he'd secured the minority vote and undecideds, Cheryl decidedly pulled ahead by about 13 percentage points shortly after the polls closed.

The University's Mike Erasmuson reflects on what worked for her.

Every region of the state, across every demographic of the state, there was nothing that eluded her.

to any of the trouble that was talked about before the election, whether it was, you know, the strength of her Democratic support or minority community support.

It simply was not a problem.

We don't often have governor's races where somebody wins by 400,000 votes.

This was a massive, massive win.

Some called it a proxy race, a referendum on President Trump and Governor Murphy.

Both have low favorability ratings in the state.

Both gubernatorial candidates made affordability their platform with different approaches on how to get there.

But Sheryl's focus on Trump seems to have resonated with New Jersey voters, says Deb Walsh from the Center for American Women in Politics.

Mikey Sherrill ran a campaign that blended both policy and where she wanted to take the state, but also a strong message about she would-things would be different under her.

It would not be the chaos.

It would not be MAGA.

It would be something different.

71% of people who voted for Sheryl said it was to vote against President Trump.

And that is the issue that ruled the day.

I don't think the government shutdown helped any Republicans right now.

Polls showed that whether it's accurate or not, voters are blaming Republicans for the government shutdown.

Republican strategist Jeanette Hoffman says Cittarelli ran a great race and admits Republicans are feeling disappointed and tired today.

Cittarelli remained resolute even as he conceded the race to Sheryl last night.

Even though we were not successful tonight it does not mean we were not successful in talking about the issues that matter.

I'm more passionate than ever that these are the issues that need to be solved because if they're not I fear for the future of New Jersey.

But for Sheryl today begins the real work of state governance.

She met with Governor Murphy this morning to begin the process of transitioning power.

We just had a really good kickoff meeting with our respective chiefs of staff.

It's great to see all of you.

I really appreciate you coming out because many of you I'm sure like me did not get a lot of sleep last night.

The Governor-elect held her first press conference this afternoon to announce the leaders of her transition team.

Today I'm going to announce the head of our transition team, Dr.

Dale Caldwell, the new Lieutenant Governor-elect of the great state of New Jersey, and Kelly Doucette.

Doucette is Cheryl's former congressional district director.

She'll serve as executive director, while Caldwell will chair the transition team.

Practically, we must make sure that our government is ready to deliver for New Jersians on day one.

We will assemble a team that reflects the rich talent of the state, people from every background and every region who are eager to serve.

Governor-elect Sheryl now has 77 days to build out her team.

Who that'll be, she says, will be announced soon.

to the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration tariff policies, along with a myriad of priorities to address affordability here in the state.

In Trenton, I'm Joanna Gagas, NJ Spotlight News.

During her first 100 days in office, she plans to immediately sign New Jersey onto the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration tariff policies, along with a myriad of priorities to address affordability here in the state.

In Trenton, I'm Joanna Gagas, NJ Spotlight News.

Well Mikey Sherrill may have won a hard-fought election, but her toughest challenges are still ahead.

From an ongoing state budget gap and mounting affordability crisis, to possible federal funding cuts, the Governor-Elect faces major tests the moment she takes office.

And we don't yet have specifics on just how she plans to deliver on her campaign promises.

As part of our Under the Dome series, our senior writer Colleen O'Day and budget and finance writer John Reitmeyer join me now for more on what's ahead in the Sherrill administration and for the residents who elected her.

Welcome to you both.

I know everyone's a little sleepy today, so I appreciate it.

Let me start with this, Colleen.

Lots of campaign promises made, but she was light on specifics, Mikey Sherrill, during the campaign.

We don't really know how she's going to govern or achieve the things that she wants to do.

Is that par for the course?

Is it strategy?

What is it?

You know, I feel for it's like it's a little bit of both.

The contrast was especially jarring or glaring when you consider that Jack Ciattarelli, who did not win last night, has had very concrete proposals.

Whether you agreed with them or not, you knew exactly what he was going to do.

For instance, one that has a lot of immigrants' rights folks concerned is this immigrant trust directive, the thing that we have where police have been ordered to not assist immigration agents in deportations unless there is a criminal warrant for a crime, a robbery, an assault that a person has committed.

Cittarelli was very clear.

Day one, that goes away.

Mikey Sherrill, we don't know.

She was asked the question multiple times, which she may -- she keep that directive, and she never answered that question.

So we don't know.

If you think back to the primary, too, Colleen, you know, Steve Fulop was similar in that vein in that he had these very detailed policy platforms that he put out early and often, which may or may not have helped him because voters could decide right then and there, right, if this was an administration that they would like to have.

Whereas with Mikey, there are still several issues where we don't know where she stands.

The immigration trust directive being one.

What else.

Yeah, I mean, and there are a lot of them.

And this goes back to your first question from before.

You know, I do think that some of that is by design.

We talk a lot about low information voters, voters who don't pay attention to issues.

They may be more swayed by what they see on social media, by ads.

And for those folks, I think getting into the weeds in issues probably doesn't make sense.

We here at Spotlight like to be in those weeds.

Boy, we really trump around in them.

So we're very interested in issues.

And it's been hard to find some very specific questions, positions of hers on a number of those.

There are a lot of in law enforcement also, for instance, that we didn't get answers to.

We've got limits on police pursuits.

There are limits on use of force by police.

We don't know if she would like to keep those in place.

So there are a number of issues that we're still going to have to figure out what it is that she wants to do.

Speaking of issues, what type of challenges is Mikey Sherrill inheriting once she takes office?

>> Yeah, a whole bunch of challenges.

Some of which, and we should give her some credit, issued during the primary was a multi-page affordability agenda that laid out some broad strokes and some areas that she wants to make improvements in.

Some of them include the housing issue.

So New Jersey's got a big housing affordability problem in terms of both buying a house, where prices are very high, and renting somewhere to live, where even the average rent is very high relative to our peers across the country.

And that's coming as property taxes are at a record high and as New Jersey residents are facing rising costs for things like New Jersey transit fares, the gas tax, turnpike and parkway tolls.

You can name the whole list.

And so she will be coming into office at a time when people will expect her to deliver on some of these affordability concerns that we know by looking at the polls were very top of mind for voters as they really voted up and down the ballot.

Now, one thing she'll have in her favor is the assembly, the 80-member state assembly, as a result of the election appears to have become more Democratic and leaning to what looks like a super majority, which would make it easier for her to enact these policies, assuming they get more fleshed out.

One of the things I reported on was her goal of creating an expanded child tax credit in New Jersey.

That should really be an easy lift, both financially and working that through the legislature.

The one challenge is New Jersey's operating right now with a $1.5 billion gap between the revenue that's coming in and projected expenditures through June 30th.

So after the point upon which Cheryl will take office.

So she's going to have to manage all of these policy goals, these voter frustration, expecting her to deliver on affordability concerns while there's a budget gap in Trenton.

- Well, and you took the words right out of my mouth.

We know that there's that structural gap.

We know that there are going to be in the broader fiscal picture of what is New Jersey.

There are other problems there that she's going to have to reckon with.

How much wiggle room does she really have John quickly in the minute that we have left to deliver on things like affordability whether that's through anchor or stay and J or any other relief programs.

Yeah it's a really good point that gap we talk about doesn't include the unfunded more than one billion dollar cost of maintaining this new property tax relief program for seniors called stay and J. beyond June 30th.

So again as she starts to make her first budget there's also this one more than one billion dollars she has to find if she wants to keep this program going which a lot of the legislators ran on in their own races this year and then the backdrop to all of this is these looming federal spending cuts we have an ongoing government shutdown that's heaping on costs already we have more coming with Medicaid people are very frustrated with their rising health care so that's all part of the backdrop as well Maybe a good problem to have because you've won the race but it doesn't get any easier come January.

All right.

You can read all of John Reitmeyer and Colino Day's reporting on our Web site NJ Decides 2025 tab and beyond NJ Spotlight News dot org.

Thank you both for all of your hard work.

Great to talk to you.

Thanks, Bri.

You're welcome.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

We are now in the longest government shutdown in U.S.

history.

Thirty six days with no end in sight for the stalemate.

And people are feeling the pain of the ongoing effects from access to food aid benefits to frustration and disruptive delays at the airports.

Travelers at Newark Airport, by the way, were hit with numerous delays today following a weekend filled with multiple ground stops due to staffing shortages in the control tower.

Both TSA agents and air traffic controllers are entering their second week without a paycheck.

And Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says many controllers are working mandatory overtime, putting more strain on the system.

Industry insiders say some are calling out sick to go earn money elsewhere.

According to the tracking website FlightAware, Newark experienced nearly 400 delays on Tuesday and another 150 as of this afternoon.

Duffy this week again blamed Democrats for the shutdown and warned of mass chaos if they don't reopen the government.

Adding the administration may be able to get back to work on the new system.

Industry insiders say some are calling out sick to go earn money elsewhere.

According to the tracking website FlightAware, Newark experienced nearly 400 delays on Tuesday and another 150 as of this afternoon.

Duffy this week again blamed Democrats for the shutdown and warned of mass chaos if they don't reopen the government.

Adding the administration may be forced to close some of the airspace if there aren't enough controllers to ensure safe travel.

Senate Democrats involved in talks to end the shutdown are looking to use their party's momentum from Tuesday's elections to get Republican support for a compromise, specifically on a framework to temporarily extend health care subsidies for Obamacare with some reforms.

It's all the linchpin to the negotiations.

President Trump, meanwhile, is blaming the shutdown in part for GOP losses in the contest here in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere, and this morning encouraged Republicans to eliminate the filibuster to reopen the government.

Here to help explain all of it and how Governor-elect Sherrill will work with the administration moving forward is our Washington, D.C.

correspondent Ben Hulak.

Ben, good to have you back.

Thanks for sticking around to chat with us.

So let's talk first about where things stand with the shutdown, which of course, not a whole lot of movement.

What type of plays though are being made now that Democrats are feeling pretty good?

- Democrats are feeling good.

There's still no bill, there's no text that has emerged.

And we're now officially the longest federal shutdown in history.

And the White House is at this point actually still threatening to withhold SNAP funding, that's food aid for about 42 million Americans, roughly 850,000 of whom live in New Jersey.

They're also threatening not to honor a federal law that requires furloughed federal workers be paid back pay.

So at this point it's really threats coming out of the administration.

And meanwhile the House, Speaker Mike Johnson has continued to hold his daily press conferences criticizing Democrats.

And in the Senate they're voting sort of on nominations.

They're sort of on autopilot.

They've been casting votes that we know reporters know and anyone paying attention to knows will not pass.

The votes don't exist.

There are only 53 Republicans and you need 60 votes to pass legislation to fund the government.

So it's really... I mean the levers of power are still ultimately in the hands of Republicans.

I mean we heard a lot come out last night and today from both Democrats in New Jersey, Cory Booker and Andy Kam about the referendum that the elections caused, but the levers of power haven't changed much.

Right, it's unified Republican control in Washington and that hasn't changed since September 19th, which is the last time the House voted.

And actually at this point, John Thune, the Republican from South Carolina who leads the Senate, has said the short-term bills that Republicans were offering need to be rewritten because we're so deep into the shutdown, they essentially make no sense at this point to pass.

It's functionally basically useless to pursue these bills.

So the ground has shifted a little bit there with Republicans acknowledging that they'll need to put pen to paper and write something new.

But at this point it's really threats from President Trump and stagnation from Capitol Hill.

I want to ask you because you and John Reitmeyer did some reporting on the Gateway Tunnel Project and the funding that may or may not be terminated there.

Can you update us on where things stand and how much money is left before the project would have to stop because construction is still ongoing and how that plays into all of this.

The project is still ongoing.

This sort of is classic Trumpian speak.

He threatens to cancel funding and he doesn't have the authority to do that at this point.

There was actually a body, a man was killed who was working on the Gateway project on the New York side of things, killed a few weeks ago.

And an indication, sort of sadly, that work is continuing.

But this, if we zoom out a little bit, this fits a pattern of the Trump administration cancelling funding or threatening to cancel funding for Democratic regions, liberal-leaning regions of the country that disagree with him as a way to punish his Democratic rivals.

Any more talks about, it's not even been 24 hours, the dust hasn't settled, but some of the issues that Mikey Sherrill might face in working with the Trump administration.

There was a lot of talk about, you know, Jack Ciattarelli might have been the person to negotiate a little bit more.

Mikey Sherrill, of course, built her campaign around, you know, shielding, protecting New Jersey residents, she said, from his policies.

Now they've got to play nicely together in the sandbox.

Right.

It's, I think that's a totally fascinating point.

Congresswoman Sherrill, moderate center left member of Congress.

She has voted to impeach this man, Donald Trump, twice and was repulsed.

I've spoken to her at length about the events of January 6, 2021, was horrified by those days and scared to her wit's end.

And right now she has to turn around and negotiate some sort of funding on a regular basis from the federal government.

There are things that only the feds can cover at a scale only the federal government can provide.

So it's a really interesting balance of being this firewall for New Jersey as she has painted herself to be, but also a pragmatic reality that you have to do business with folks down in Washington in order to bring money back home to your state.

What's our biggest task going to be?

You and I talked a little bit about the uncertainty of funding at times.

The days back in January where folks woke up and federal grants were frozen, money that had already been approved and allocated and expected to be there.

There is sort of this fluidity to what these executive branches need to work with, right, in their planning and in their understanding of what's happening at the White House.

>> Right.

I think there are two big points I would emphasize.

One is right out of the gate, Governor-elect Sheryl, once she's sworn in, will have to propose a budget.

And as longtime viewers, readers would understand, the governor of New Jersey has a serious force of power in the state budget process.

That's item one.

And she'll have to do that without -- with sort of uncertainty, this idea that funding could be from the federal government, it could be ripped out at any moment.

And then the other looming sort of axe for the New Jersey state budget is all these, is the series of cuts that will come from a Republican budget law that was finished this summer, cuts to social safety net programs, in particular Medicaid and SNAP benefits.

And that money is going to disappear.

The federal government has yet to write rules to direct states on how to implement these new cuts.

And that is an incredibly complicated process.

There is still no clear direction from Washington about how to implement these Medicaid and SNAP changes, as well as other dozens of tax changes.

So it's a whole new landscape.

And the Congresswoman, soon to be governor, will have to assemble her team and sort of decipher these moving targets and also realize she's dealing with less money than she might have expected.

And then the kicker, of course, she voted against this law.

Right.

Right, so you vote against this law and then you have to face the reality of coming back to Trenton to deal with it.

Well said.

Ben Hulak, you can read all of Ben's reporting on our website, njspotlightnews.org.

Ben, good to see you.

Thanks as always.

You too.

That is going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi for the entire team at NJ Spotlight News.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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