Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. With us now for a few minutes is the new governor-elect of New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill. Governor-elect, welcome back to WNYC, and congratulations.

Mikie Sherrill: Well, thank you, and thanks so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Can you feel that title yet? Does it feel right yet, or does it feel weird?

Mikie Sherrill: [chuckles] It's a little clunky, Governor Elect, but it is great to hear, and it's a really exciting morning after a wonderful victory. We saw just great returns in all of our communities. I think really doubled down on traditional Democratic strongholds, working people, Black voters, Latino voters, because these are people that want good governance, great schools, good opportunities, good jobs. I think that, combined with my message of affordability and then my willingness to stand up to Trump and the Trump administration as they're attacking our economy, really resonated.

Brian Lehrer: You won by 13 points, which well exceeded the polls. I want to ask you about Passaic County, maybe a national bellwether, largely Latino and other immigrant, as a county north and west of New York City. For people who don't know, the New Jersey counties that used to go reliably for Democrats went for Trump by three points last year, shocking some people. Now you won Passaic County by 15 points, from what I read. Is this more than Passaic County, New Jersey, but Passaic County, USA, in any way, as you see it?

Mikie Sherrill: Yes, I think we swung Passaic by about 18 points. I'll tell you, I think what this is about is just really diving into those issues that New Jerseyans care about. I've spoken to thousands and thousands of New Jerseyans, and it's cost, it's affordability, it's housing and healthcare, and utility costs. It was this combination, I think, of really wanting a leader who's going to take on the status quo and act right away and proactively. That's why I said I'm declaring a state of emergency and freezing rate hikes on utilities because I want people to understand I'm not looking at a 10-year plan or a strongly worded letter. I'm really going to take this on immediately. At the same time, I'm going to stand up to Washington because people see the tariffs, the One Big Beautiful Bill, the attack on the Gateway Tunnel project. That's going to raise their costs and already is raising their cost as well.

Brian Lehrer: We'll get to the utility state of emergency, but I guess I was curious if you see Passaic County as anything of a national bellwether, or maybe you were just too focused on your race in New Jersey to consider it one way or another that way.

Mikie Sherrill: I was really focused on Passaic, and I think what we saw there was that a lot of the community really wanted to hear exactly how I was going to address their concern. When you see the Latino community in Passaic County, the Muslim community in Passaic County came out big for me. I think they were people that wanted a seat at the table, like so many Americans, wanted to make sure I was addressing those key needs. Like so many other people across the state, those key needs often turned out to be affordability.

Latinos are our most entrepreneurial group in the state. Starting new businesses and the red tape and permitting issues have been front center for them. The affordability message was [inaudible 00:03:34] [silence] meeting with people regularly, that I was going to events, that I was sitting with grassroots groups, that I was meeting and hosting roundtables, so that people felt very heard.

Brian Lehrer: Your signature policy proposal, or at least a signature policy proposal, as you said, was declaring a state of emergency on utility prices. We think of Trump declaring a state of emergency on, like every issue, he wants to take more power on. Are there emergency powers that such a declaration might give you?

Mikie Sherrill: It certainly has resulted in the utility companies writing an open letter saying they're going to come to the table and want to negotiate this. I think they see the writing on the wall that we have got to lower costs for consumers. I think it's brought workers to the table to talk about how we need to put programs in place to drive more power into our grid to long-term drive down costs. Also, we've laid out a program through some of the money that comes through our BPU, our Bureau of Public Utilities, to defray some of the cost of doing this.

I think, as much as anything, this has really put everyone on notice that I am no longer going to allow the can to be kicked down the road. It gives everyone a sense of urgency on how this problem has got to be tackled, and it's got to be now.

Brian Lehrer: It's more a declaration of priorities that I think I hear you saying is bringing the utility companies and others to the table. It's not so much that with the state of emergency, you can now bypass the legislature or try to bypass the courts, anything like that.

Mikie Sherrill: That is certainly not where I am focused on, as I'm really proud of all the legislative seats we've won with some really great legislators. I'm really excited about the future of New Jersey. No, I'm not looking to undermine our legislature. I'm not looking to undermine our courts. I'm looking to fight for the people of New Jersey.

Brian Lehrer: You ran a lot on Mr. Ciattarelli being too aligned with President Trump. That seemed to matter. Do you think the New Jersey result sends a message of any kind to the president himself?

Mikie Sherrill: I think what it sends a message is to all of those people who are in public office or want to be in public office to serve people, they better be focused on the people they want to serve. My opponent wasn't. He was not focused on serving New Jerseyans. He was focused on making sure-- He had an audience of one in his campaign, and it was Donald Trump. I think people across the state saw that, knew that he would not be a leader in the state, he would not stand up to the president in any way, and he wouldn't fight for the people of New Jersey.

As a former military member, as a mom of four kids, people in this state have seen my record of accomplishment. They know I'll take on-- Including members of my own party when it comes to fighting for people in New Jersey, and I think that also resonated.

Brian Lehrer: The President has quoted this morning, I don't know if you've seen this yet, saying, "The shutdown hurt the party around the country," his party. Do you think that was true in New Jersey, and if so, with what kinds of voters mostly?

Mikie Sherrill: Well, I certainly think it hurts the Republican Party because I think it shows their inability to govern and their incompetence, and their lack of regard for serving people. Not only did the president shut down the government, the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate haven't really done much. The House speaker refuses to even call the House into session because he doesn't want to release the Epstein files. You're just seeing complete incompetence. At the same time, the president has $6 billion he could be using for SNAP funds that he's refusing to use.

He's harming vulnerable people and not feeding children and families who are at risk for not being able to afford groceries. The whole thing, I think, just really, really paints the picture of how this administration is really failing the people of this country.

Brian Lehrer: Do you think your victory helps or hurts to get the Gateway Tunnel project unterminated? Trump had said he was terminating it. Ciattarelli said as a Trump supporter, he had a better chance of getting it unterminated.

Mikie Sherrill: I think it helps a lot because Jack Ciattarelli was not really focused on getting that tunnel done. In fact, he was in the assembly when the ARC tunnel was canceled, and he wanted to cancel certain transit lines across the state. I, on the other hand, really am a big believer in public transit. I want to make sure people can get around our state more easily, get to jobs, create economic opportunity. This certainly, I think, puts us on much stronger footing.

Brian Lehrer: How else do you start to deal with President Trump? Is it different from Mayor-elect Mamdani, who challenged Trump to turn the volume up? I don't know if you heard that part of his victory speech. He actually challenged Trump to turn the volume up. Do you deal with the president differently?

Mikie Sherrill: I am focused on the people of New Jersey. I will tell you right now, that means taking on the president in many ways, whether it is we've sued him to receive 200 million back on some Title I funding for our school systems. I'm going to be working hard to unterminate the Gateway Tunnel project because he illegally has tried to freeze those funds even though Congress appropriated them. I'll be working hard to address some of the hits from the federal government, climb back as many federal resources as possible.

I'll also be focused on Trenton. We have to make sure Trenton's running incredibly well, whether it's cutting through red tape and permitting issues and delays, making sure small businesses thrive, and then really making sure our large businesses can grow here and provide great jobs.

Brian Lehrer: You're not a democratic socialist like Zohran Mamdani, but what do you think are-

Mikie Sherrill: No.

Brian Lehrer: -two victories combined? Plus, the moderate Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who won for governor in Virginia, maybe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vote didn't get much publicity, but they're also very important, I think. What do you think all these things combined say about the Democratic Party overall today?

Mikie Sherrill: I think when the Democratic Party and when people who want to be public servants are focused on the people they serve and are focused on addressing those needs, and driving down costs, making it easier for families to have opportunity to get good jobs, raise kids, and pay for their groceries, we're very successful. Those are the key issues that so many of us are focusing on. It's just, how do we give people a shot in this country?

As we see the president trying to take away opportunity from really thousands and thousands of people across the country by cutting access to school funding, innovation, jobs, the Gateway Tunnel project could be worth-- That could be about 100,000 jobs in the region, many of them good union jobs. We know unions provide great opportunity to families. When we're seeing the president trying to attack that, and as Democrats, we're all trying to make sure all families have access to opportunity, I think that's a really strong place for us to be.

Brian Lehrer: We will leave it there and let you make what I'm sure are many more stops today. Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, thank you so much for making this one of your stops. We look forward to talking to you many times once you drop the second half of governor-elect from your title. Thank you for today.

Mikie Sherrill: [chuckles] Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Have a great one.

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.