Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D) makes her victory speech in front of supporters at the Hilton East Brunswick on Nov. 4, 2025. (Photo by Amanda Brown for New Jersey Monitor)
By Nikita Biryukov
Reprinted with permission
New Jersey Monitor
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Essex) resigned her seat in the House of Representatives Tuesday months ahead of her inauguration as New Jersey’s 57th governor.
Her resignation will become effective at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
“It has been an honor to serve the residents of the 11th Congressional District since 2019. I’ve been proud to fight for our communities, getting shovels in the ground for the Gateway Tunnel project, slashing through red tape on critical flood mitigation projects, protecting Picatinny Arsenal’s Mission, and funding community projects that support our students, infrastructure, and public safety,” she said in a resignation letter to Gov. Phil Murphy.
Sherrill leaves Congress partway into a fourth term in the lower chamber. She entered politics in 2018, when she and a group of Democrats secured all but one of the state’s House seats in wave elections broadly seen as a repudiation of President Donald Trump’s first term.
The former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot had announced her intention to resign from Congress before she is inaugurated as governor on Jan. 20. She defeated former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-Somerset) by a little more than 14 points to win a term as the state’s chief executive.
In the current Congress, she served on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
“Public service is a public trust. I look forward to continuing to serve the residents of the 11th District and all New Jerseyans as governor next year,” Sherrill said in her letter to Murphy.
Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to order a special election to fill the remainder of Sherrill’s unexpired term. Already, 10 Democrats have announced their intent to seek the nomination.
That group includes former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Hunterdon), Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlet, Morris Township Mayor Jeff Grayzel, and former Obama White House staffer Cammie Croft, among others.
Sherrill’s House seat is expected to remain empty for months. Though state law and the U.S. Constitution permit New Jersey governors to temporarily fill Senate vacancies by appointment, the Constitution requires empty house seats be filled by election.
New Jersey’s laws for filling House vacancies run on long time horizons. The state must hold a special House primary between 70 and 76 days after a governor issues a writ of election calling for a special race to fill a vacancy. Special general elections follow 64 to 70 days after the primary.
Murphy is expected to issue a writ calling for a special election shortly after Sherrill’s resignation, though the law does not set any timeline for when such a writ must be issued. Indeed, the law does not demand the governor call a special election at all.
