Title: Meet the NJ Governor Candidates: Rep. Mikie Sherrill

[MUSIC]

Brigid: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. I'm Brigid Bergin, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, filling in for Brian today. Coming up on today's show, we'll talk to an expert on national security and the use of military force about the Trump administration's lethal strikes on boats from Venezuela that are supposedly transporting drugs. Is this legal? Many experts are sounding the alarm that it's not. Plus, later in the show, we'll have our weekly Wednesday segment on the mayoral race.

My guests will be Elizabeth Kim and this week, our colleague, Jimmy Vielkind, who covers state politics, will also join the conversation. He'll talk about what Governor Hochul's endorsement of Zohran Mamdani means for the race and for Hochul's political future. Plus, we'll wrap today's show with a conversation about a TV show a lot of us have been watching here in the office, The Pitt. We'll want to hear from healthcare workers of all kinds who've watched it and whether the ER drama it portrays rings true for you.

First, The Times has a story this morning about the New Jersey governor's race. A key quote: "The stakes couldn't be higher." The Brian Lehrer Show is focusing on the race at least once a week until election day, usually on what we're calling Jersey Thursdays. This week, it comes a day early because we're joined by Democratic candidate for governor, Mikie Sherrill, who is currently the US representative for the 11th district, where she serves on the Armed Services Committee. We've invited her opponent to the race, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, and we hope he'll join us as well in the coming weeks. Congresswoman Sherrill, welcome back to the show.

Congresswoman Sherrill: Thanks so much for having me, and thanks for having the Jersey Thursday on a Wednesday this week. I really appreciate it.

Brigid: We are so glad to have you. Listeners, we can take a few questions for Congresswoman Sherrill about the governor's race, particularly from people who will be voting in it. Call or text your question about her positions or what you see as key issues in the race. The number 212-433-WNYC. That's 212-433-9692. Of course, you can call or text that number. Congresswoman, let's start with what really seems to be the top issue in the race, candidates, and that's affordability. What is the key component of your plan to make the state more affordable for current residents, particularly since we're talking about residents who want to see their kids be able to afford to stay where they grew up?

Congresswoman Sherrill: That's exactly right. This is the only race that really started almost a minute after the 24th cycle was over because we have this 25 race, we have the competitive primary, we had the competitive primary. What that means is I have been going around the state for almost a year now, listening to thousands and thousands of New Jerseyans about what's on their mind, their concerns and their fears. This race really comes down to kids and costs and accountability.

A lot of that revolves around the ability of families to afford to live here in New Jersey, and so whether that's housing costs, which have gone up by 50% over the last five years, or our electricity prices, which have gone up by 20% in the last month. In all of these ways, the Garden State has just become too expensive for too many families. Then you combine that with the horrible economic attacks coming from Washington, DC, the $5 billion that the One Big Beautiful Bill, the hole that it will put in our state budget, the chaotic tariff regime, which is raising costs on everything from a cup of coffee to prices in the grocery store to everything you buy on Amazon.

Again and again and again, New Jersey families are getting hit hard, which is why on day one, I'm going to start attacking this. I'm going to declare a state of emergency on utility costs here in New Jersey and freeze rate hikes on families as we continue to move forward in driving down costs despite the attacks from Washington and despite the ways in which our economy has not worked for working families for some time.

Brigid: I want to unpack some of what you said there, because as you said, the cost of living for New Jersey residents is a driving issue. We have heard both you and Jack Ciattarelli talk about it, and attacking it from the energy perspective is one way to go at it. One of your first ads was about lowering energy prices. How much control does the governor actually have over being able to do that?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Quite a bit of control. That's what I think is so frustrating, certainly to me, but to New Jerseyans across the state, is that there were different groups that could have or should have seen this coming and didn't do enough to address it. Whether it's the grid operator, PJM or FERC or the BPU, the Bureau of Public Utilities, or PJM or JCP&L or ACE, all the different companies. At every turn, not enough was done, and so we get to this point, and suddenly all the costs are dumped on the New Jersey rate payers.

As governor, I am going to not only freeze those by negotiating with our utility companies have already expressed a willingness to do so in an open letter, but then also pushing massive amounts of energy into our grid so that we can drive down costs because we know the market has been screwed up by PJM. We have governors across our region holding PJM accountable, like Wes Moore and Josh Shapiro have already taken PJM to court and will continue to work to do that. At the same time, driving in power to our grid produced in New Jersey to drive those costs down so that we can ensure that families across New Jersey aren't hit with these horrible electric bills.

Brigid: As you have said, PJM controls the grid and controls the bills that many of those New Jersey rate payers see. How much of your plan also relies on generating more energy in New Jersey? I think you've talked about the need to also bring nuclear back into the grid. Is that right?

Congresswoman Sherrill: We have to bring massive amounts of power back into and produce it in New Jersey because we know other states across the region, like Virginia, for example, they put in massive amount of data centers and are just a huge suck on power in our region. Anything we buy off of the market is going to be more expensive right now. Producing it at home is a better option, and that's going to take a lot of effort. The easiest, cheapest, cleanest way to do this is solar right away, and getting solar on rooftops and landfills, et cetera. That's cheaper.

We have about 40% of our production is from gas-powered plants. We need to make sure they're working in a more modern way, that we're upgrading them so they can produce more with less emissions. Then long term, we really need to look at nuclear so we can have massive amounts of power added to the grid as we try to produce more and more here in New Jersey.

Brigid: Congresswoman, just to be clear, I know that one of the issues that your opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, has said would lower costs would be for New Jersey to withdraw from RGGI, the Regional Emissions Agreement. What's your stance on that? Are you committed to keeping New Jersey part of RGGI?

Congresswoman Sherrill: I'm committed to driving in massive amounts of power and lowering costs for New Jersey families. Right now, RGGI provides income that can be used to offset the costs on rate payers and families, and so there's an opportunity to help defray the cost on families through that program. I think there are opportunities in RGGI if we get the program right. Right now, I think there are some tweaks to it that we need to make to make sure that we're incentivizing new power generation in our state.

The real problem here is my opponent really doesn't have a very clear, thought-out plan of how he's going to actually protect New Jersey families from these increased costs. At the end of the day, he's also gone along 100% in line with Trump. He has said that he doesn't disagree with Trump on anything, that the New Jersey delegation should all have voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill. One of the many, many, many problems in the One Big Beautiful Bill is that it will raise costs on rate payers by hundreds of dollars per family.

If you're serious about lowering energy costs for families, you're going to have to fight for families. You can't just adopt everything Trump tells you to do and act as if it's going to lower costs because it's not. It's going to harm families. That's why I'm fighting hard for families, and my opponent is basically just following along with whatever Trump tells him to do.

Brigid: Listeners, if you're just joining us, I'm Brigid Bergin, filling in for Brian today. My guest is Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, and we're talking about the race for governor in New Jersey. Congresswoman, you will not be surprised to know we have a lot of New Jersey voters who have some questions for you. Let's go to Rod in Paterson, New Jersey. Rod, you're on WNYC.

Rod: Good morning, Congresswoman. How are you doing?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Morning. How are you?

Rod: Okay, great. I got two quick questions, if possible. The first one with the 2026 budget cuts in health care, what is your plan going to be in New Jersey to offset that? The second question, with workforce crisis looming, what is your plan around reskilling and upskilling the New Jersey workforce?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Those are two great questions, Rod. I think what you're pointing out, too, is one of the other key harms of the presidential budget, Trump's budget, which is, again, a huge hit on the economy of New Jersey. What you've sort of pointed out is 1 in 3 children in New Jersey receive health care through Medicaid. We've been driving down the cost of health care through that program because much of it is federally funded, but then we also know that the most expensive type of health care is when people receive emergency room health care.

It's incredibly expensive. It's surety care. A lot of that goes under the state budget, and it's also the worst kind of health care. It doesn't provide healthy communities and a lot of support for annual checkups, et cetera. We've been moving to drive costs down, and now that's all getting disrupted. The movement in the One Big Beautiful Bill and the president's budget is to move a lot of that money into red tape and administrative costs instead of actually creating better outcomes for communities.

As governor, I'm going to explore all the ways in which we continue to drive in better health care. For example, I've been challenging hospital systems on how they can regionally deliver better care. One hospital system said, "Look, I think we can get annual checkups from K through 12 in the schools at no cost to families, making sure we have mental health services available to our kids as well." As you know, that's a huge hit. Then we've got to take care of seniors because nursing home care is often through Medicaid, and that's going to receive a big hit.

The state's really going to have to move into these spaces to continue to drive down costs in health care and to provide better health care to people. At the same time, as governor, I'm going to take on the Trump administration on these horrible hits because we know in a state like New Jersey, we provide $70 billion more to the federal budget than we get back in New Jersey. We need to claw that money back and demand services. If the federal government's not going to provide them, then we need that money back to provide them here in New Jersey.

Upskilling for workers is such a critical question. Something that I hear from young people, but I actually don't hear from others here in New Jersey, is all about the AI revolution that's coming. I think many young people, because they are much more familiar with AI and what's going on and utilize it more frequently, see what's coming and are very worried about the future of jobs.

We are going to have to have a very nimble economy and work with our community colleges and higher ed, and even bringing it back to community schools and high schools for the programs that we're going to run to get people into jobs and move them into the jobs of the future. That is work that I've long done, whether it's programs for veterans getting into apprenticeship and union programs, growing union programs, getting accreditation for some of the apprenticeship programs so people can start to stack their degrees, starting with getting credits and then moving into a two-year degree, a four-year degree, master's, et cetera.

New Jersey is really going to push in under my leadership to make sure that people have those opportunities and have the ability to upskill through the programs we're running because that's going to be really necessary. Again, all of this is something that, when my opponent gets asked about, he just says he's going to support whatever Trump does. That's going to result in huge costs to New Jersey and a lot of vulnerable people suffering.

Brigid: Congresswoman, we have a whole board of callers. I want to get Max from Jersey City, who's been waiting, and I think has a question that builds on some of what you were talking about in terms of higher education.

Max: Good morning, Congresswoman. My name is Max Herman. I'm a sociologist and professor. I'm very concerned about the state of higher education in New Jersey. Trump notwithstanding, there have been consistent cuts to higher education in the state. The state allocation for public colleges has been decreasing relative to the costs for quite some time over the last two decades or so under both Democratic and Republican leaders. Sometimes the solutions that people offer, particularly in higher ed, but also in health care and the like, is to consolidate, to merge institutions and lay off workers.

I'm speaking as a union person. I'm concerned right now about the proposed merger of New Jersey City University and Kean University, which was forced in part due to financial issues, and those financial issues stem from systematic underfunding of public colleges. You're talking about young people, and a lot of young people are actually choosing to leave the state and go to college in other states. In fact, I think New York offers them free tuition if they are coming from New Jersey. What are we going to do to attract young people and compete without defunding our higher education system?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Thanks so much, Max. This has been a challenge that we've been facing throughout the workforce in New Jersey. When I first was in elected office years ago, I was talking with the Chamber of Commerce of Morris County about just this issue because, as you know, we run one of the best public school systems in the nation. I have some issues with it right now, and how it runs by zip code, and how we need to fix it.

Nevertheless, we do educate a very talented workforce, and so many of those kids then go off to college elsewhere, and we don't get them back. We're really fueling the economy of a lot of states with our talent, and we need that here in New Jersey. We need that for the future. We need that for our workforce. We run one of the most high-end workforces in the nation. We desperately need to keep our kids here, and we can't leave talent on the table.

To your point, we've seen a lot of hits on higher ed, both because the state hasn't appropriately funded the higher ed programs to keep costs down for families. Now, because the Trump administration is rolling back a lot of the programs that help fund student loans that-- First-time college students often use the Pell Grant programs, which are being rolled back as well. All of these talented students are not having the same opportunities as they have just a few years ago. That's why it's going to be critically important that we work with our partners throughout the state.

I have sat with many of the presidents of colleges and universities on numerous occasions as we start to chart out how we are going to push better services in, what can be done to not only help the budgets of the colleges and universities and drive down costs there, but also look at an effort to work together to determine where the centers of excellence are for the different things that we need. For example, we have a nursing shortage. Instead of competing against each other, which schools can we push in to make sure those are the schools that are going to train nurses of the future? We also have a teacher shortage, et cetera, et cetera.

How can we beef up the programs at certain colleges and universities so that they can start getting more students through and provide the workforce that we need? While at the same time, the state needs to drive more money into higher ed. I think there's been a lot of work done on pre-K and getting the school funding formula funded for K through 12, which I think is critically important. We've really now got to move on to addressing the higher ed problems in our state so that we can keep our students here, fuel our workforce, and make sure that we continue the innovation that our state is so known for.

Brigid: Congresswoman, I want to circle back on this issue of educating by zip code. How would you change that?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Unfortunately, you often hear that New Jersey has one of the best public school systems in the nation, and yet, unfortunately, we also have one of the most segregated school systems in the nation. We have a historic problem with redlining. In the past, keeping different groups of people out of certain neighborhoods. That's led to our neighborhoods that aren't as diverse as they should be, and then certainly our schools, which aren't. To address that, there are several things that we can move forward on.

One of the areas is having county-based school systems. We have more municipalities in New Jersey than California, and we have more school systems than we do municipalities. That leads to a lot of administrative load, administrative fees. That money isn't going into educating students, it's not going into teacher pay, it's not going into the buildings. That's where we really want to push resources into. We can have county-based systems, and some of our county-based schools are our best-performing schools in the state.

We can do those through occupational schools, which we know are going to be so important, especially in the age of AI. We can do so through some of our STEM magnet schools. That can draw students from all different zip codes to make sure everyone has access to a great education. I'm really focused on third-grade reading, because as many educators will tell you, that is a real inflection point for our students. If you can't read at grade level in the third grade, then it's going to be really hard for you to move on to fourth grade. When you can't read your math work, when you can't read your social studies work, it really starts to impact the rest of your education career.

I'm going to push in really hard to make sure that we are doing phonics-based reading, for example, getting teachers the training that they need to do some of this type of teaching, so that we have the best outcomes for reading for our third graders, so that they can continue to move on to achieve better results throughout their school career.

Brigid: Congressmember, we can't have a conversation about issues affecting New Jersey voters without talking about, of course, property taxes. They are notoriously high in New Jersey. What do you think is the driver of that, and what can you do as governor to lower them while also achieving your other priorities?

Congresswoman Sherrill: This is why I'm running for governor. This is what I'm incredibly focused on. Property taxes are bad because we haven't done enough in New Jersey to lower them, and then the Trump administration is making everything much, much worse. What I mean by that is we have high property taxes, we need to share services more, such as those administrative fees of schools. The state health benefits plan has not been properly administered. That needs to be fixed so we can drive down costs there. Those are two of the biggest drivers of property taxes at the municipal level, both the schools and the health benefits plan. Those are the two huge things that need to be addressed immediately.

At the same time, those property taxes were deductible. In the first Trump administration, one of the first things he did was cap those property taxes with the state and local tax deduction cap. They were capped, and that was set to expire this year in 2025. The minute Trump got back in, he reinstated it. Again, as we're fighting hard here in New Jersey to lower costs, the Trump administration keeps raising costs on everybody and driving up costs, and Jack Ciattarelli, my Republican opponent, keeps going right along with him. That's why this race is so incredibly important.

It's important for New Jersey as we chart a different path forward and have a strong governor who's going to fight back against the economic attacks coming from Washington and the red tape and bureaucracy coming from Trenton. This race is also about so much more. This is a race about how we as a country, we as a nation, are going to move forward. Here in New Jersey, we are setting the stage for what that looks like. Actually listening to families, addressing their key concerns, driving down costs, and standing up strongly against attacks from Washington. This is where I think the important fight is.

Brigid: Representative, I want to bring in some New Jersey voters who are eager to ask you some other questions, and I can talk about some of the other stakes of this race. Let's start with Mendez in Jersey City. Mendez, you're on WNYC.

Mendez: Hi. Good morning, Congresswoman Sherrill. How are you?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Hi. How are you?

Mendez: I'm well, thanks. I am an educator here in Jersey City. I've been in the education for decades, and I'm a member of Hudson County, working with a few politicians, a few governors before you, and a very active union member. My question for you here is what I noticed is very lacking. I'm very pleased with Mayor Baraka's endorsement. That was a great move for you. However, not just I as an African-American, a Black American, I'm not feeling it, and a few of my friends and colleagues are too not feeling it. I don't see you here in Hudson County.

I've gone to a few when the primary was on. I was working with a few people on the primary. I was very pleased you won, but that's behind us. However, currently, the Black community here and some of my Spanish brothers here, Latinos, Latinas, we don't see you, we don't feel you, and I'm afraid if you don't get that group out, and I'm trying very hard, working very hard with Hudson County. Again, we don't see you, we don't feel you. Again, as a community person, just like I said, I am in the business of Jersey politics, and for some reason, we're not feeling you. I am not feeling you.

Brigid: Mendez, thank you for your question. I want to give the representative a chance to respond to you, because I think that at the heart of the question, it's about the kind of outreach you're doing across the state, Representative.

Congresswoman Sherrill: Thank you so much for the call, Mendez. I'm so sorry you feel that way. I'm in Hudson County weekly. I think I was just there Monday, and I will be back numerous times to the various street fairs and events, and will continue to work hard for everyone. We're running the largest field program that I think any gubernatorial has run in recent memory in New Jersey. That's been so important to me to make sure that we are getting to every corner of New Jersey. Yesterday, I spent all day in South Jersey and will continue to do that as well.

We crisscross the state to make sure that I'm hearing from the most amount of people about the issues that matter to them, and continue to work on those issues that are important to communities. Yes, I was thrilled to have Mayor Baraka's support because we're building a really broad coalition of people to fight for those things that we all care about and that we believe deeply are going to make our state better. We've talked today about electricity costs, we've talked about education, we've talked about opportunity, we've talked about the economy of New Jersey again and again, focusing on those things that are going to lift people up.

I think that's critically important, is creating opportunity in our state for everyone. It's something I am dedicated to. I tell people that it's the opportunity that this nation's provided to my family at every level, whether it was my grandfather's union job after he came out of the Great Depression with nothing, or whether it was my dad being able to afford to put himself through college after he grew up poor in West Virginia. Again and again, this country's provided that kind of opportunity to me and to my family, and I want to make sure all New Jersey families can experience that as well.

Brigid: Representative, I don't want to dilute. More so, I want to underscore Mendez's question, which is, I think in particular, the type of outreach that is going to his community, a Black community, Latino communities within New Jersey. You talked about your field operation. Is your field operation on the ground as much in the heart of Newark as it is in other parts of New Jersey?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Yes. What we have done across the state is ensure that our field program is built from people from the various communities around New Jersey. The people engaged in Latino communities will speak Spanish, for example, but just making sure we have those connections across the state. Then beyond that, we're really putting together a huge communications effort. We have a Spanish language effort. We've engaged people from various communities, whether it's Black radio personalities or whether it is getting on TV in some of our Indian American news outlets.

We're going everywhere because we have an incredibly diverse state. I think that's what makes New Jersey so special, and it's why we thrive here, because we have so many different ideas. It's incredibly innovative. It really has a lot to offer, but we need to make sure that we're then getting into all different communities to hear from people to ensure that we're addressing all the key constituency concerns.

Brigid: Absolutely. I want to bring in Mike from Randolph, New Jersey, who I think has a question that's about another constituency that he's curious if you're reaching out to. Mike, go ahead.

Mike: Great. Thank you so much for taking the call. Taking off on the theme of outreach, I was just curious if you had a plan of reaching out to voters like myself who are registered Republicans but don't necessarily agree with the whole MAGA movement.

Congresswoman Sherrill: That is something that I've always done because the first race I had was actually in a Trump district. It was really important that as I gathered people together, I was really addressing those things that brought us together, that everyone cared about, the state and local tax deduction cap, infrastructure, healthcare costs. That's why I've gone around the state and listened to people from all over the state. What I can tell you is you're not really alone.

I'll tell you that a lot of people across the state are much less interested in partisan politics than even they have been in the past, and much more interested in finding a candidate that they feel is going to have their back and is going to really put the state of New Jersey first. I tell people often that I come from the Navy, and we always have this saying, "Ship, Shipmate, Self," meaning that you kind of came last in that order, that it was really about the mission, it was about your shipmates, it was about the people that you were serving and working with and getting good opportunities for them.

When I was a Navy lieutenant, and I had guys that were overseas, I had to make sure their families back at the beach were doing okay. I take that with me as I run for governor, this idea that I want to make sure that I am doing everything possible to deliver for families across New Jersey. Whether you are a Democratic family or a Republican family or an independent family or not a very political family, you are facing costs that are probably making it hard for either you or your parents or your kids to stay here in New Jersey. That's what I want to make sure I'm addressing.

Brigid: I want to go to another caller. We have just a few more minutes with Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, who is the Democratic nominee for governor in New Jersey. We want to hit a couple more issues if we can. Callers, we're going to ask you to keep your questions tight. Let's go to Cassie in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

Cassie: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Mikie, I have been a fan of yours for years. I've been out canvassing, and I will continue to canvass. My question is, however, my concern that I don't see enough conversation either on your website or from you on the subject of immigration and deportations in New Jersey. We know we have the Immigration Trust Act out there. I hear that there are more cities and towns coming together to do a resolution in support of making it illegal for New Jersey police and state police to assist ICE. My question is, why isn't immigration as a topic on your website? Can you tell us more about where you stand on the deportations?

Congresswoman Sherrill: Sure. Thanks so much, Cassie. As I come to this, I come as a federal prosecutor, and I have never shied away from prosecuting violent crime, including people who are undocumented, who have committed violent crimes and have been deported, and I've prosecuted that case. I also believe deeply in public safety. I also believe deeply in the Constitution and the rule of law. As governor, those are the things I'm most focused on. For example, in Congress, I'm on legislation to say that, "Look, if you're an ICE agent coming in to our state, you shouldn't be able to wear a mask and not show a badge or not show any identification."

I'm hearing from families across the state who are telling me they're afraid to send kids to school. I'm hearing from teachers who aren't seeing kids in school. As bad, I'm hearing from doctors who aren't seeing kids for their annual checkups because families are so afraid. As a family here in New Jersey, you should not be afraid to go to school or go to your doctor's appointment or report a crime to police officers. As I'm hearing from public safety officers, those are their fears as well, that all of this is making New Jersey less safe.

As governor, I'm going to stand strongly for the law and the Constitution. I'm going to really have our police officers focus on their job, which is keeping our community safe. We'll continue to demand things like due process rights, like identifiable people, as people are coming into our state, so that we know who they are, and really focusing on the people of New Jersey. That's largely what people across the state want to see, and that is what, as governor, I'm going to be relentlessly focused on.

Brigid: Representative, just to put a fine point on it, New Jersey is a sanctuary state. Thanks to a policy from the state attorney general limiting law enforcement cooperation with ICE. Would you direct your attorney general to continue that policy to try to make it law?

Congresswoman Sherrill: I would direct my attorney general to make sure that we are working across the state on public safety, that people in the state can feel safe going to doctors, going to report crimes at the police office, going to their churches and places of worship. That is, to me, sacrosanct, having public safety in New Jersey, where the people of this state feel safe, and where we are really following the Constitution.

We are hearing stories, of course, across the country where there is real fear that that is not happening, where there is real fear where a lot of the federal police forces are going around far beyond their purview, and putting people in danger. We even saw several months ago, as you recall, a sitting member of Congress put down by police. This is unacceptable, and that's something I'll fight tooth and nail against here in New Jersey.

Brigid: Congresswoman, there's so much more that I know our listeners and that I would love to talk to you about, but we also know that you have a very busy day ahead of you. We want to give you 30 seconds to make a closing pitch to voters in New Jersey about why you should be their next governor.

Congresswoman Sherrill: Thank you so much, and thanks for all of the callers. I really enjoyed that and hope to see you all on the trail and hear more from you. This is a really critically important race. We have a choice here. We have a choice as to whether we are going to continue to be a state that invests in families, where you can raise your family, where you can afford to retire here and see your grandkids grow, where we can drive down costs, but also a state where you know your rights are protected.

Whether it's your abortion rights or your civil rights and freedoms, your ability to speak out or your ability to worship how you choose, that's all going to be protected here in New Jersey. That's, to me, the bare minimum of what a governor should do, and yet it's nothing that my opponent is interested in doing because he's interested in remaining in lockstep with Donald Trump. He said he can think of nothing he disagrees with Trump on and that it's his job to support Trump. As I've said many times, it's my job to support the people of New Jersey. That's exactly what I'll do and hope to see you, like I said, out there on the trail. Thanks so much.

Brigid: Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

Congresswoman Sherrill: I appreciate it. Thanks, Brigid.

Brigid: We have invited Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli to come on the show, and we will continue our weekly looks at the governor's race, plus more issue-related coverage as we head to election day.

Copyright © 2025 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.