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                                -- New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill

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Rebecca Michelle "Mikie" Sherriill was elected as the 57th governor of New Jersey on November 2025 and was inaugurated on January 20, 2026. She was the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 11th congressional district from 2019 until resigning on November 20, 2025, after her election as governor. She is the second woman elected as New Jersey's governor (after Republican Christine Todd Whitman), the first Democratic female New Jersey governor and the first female military veteran to be a governor of any U.S. state. 

She defeated Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli in the 2025 election, winning 56.2% of the vote. 

Sherrill has been married to Jason Hedberg since 2005. The couple has lived in Montclair with their four children since 2010. Sherrill is Roman Catholic. Hedberg was a classmate of his future spouse at the United States Naval Academy in 1994, where he was a standout rugby player, captaining the 1994 team to the National Championship game and earning two-time All-American honors. He was inducted into the Navy Rugby Hall of Fame in 2018. Following graduation, he served for seven years as a Navy Intelligence Officer and also played for the U.S. Combined Services rugby team and professionally in Europe. After leaving military service, he was employed as a stock trader and is currently an investment banker.

Sherrill was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and raised in Reston, Virginia. In 1994, she earned her B.S. from the United States Naval Academy. In 2003, Sherrill graduated from the London School of Economics. In 2004, she studied at the American University in Cairo. In 2007, Sherrill earned a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.

Sherrill wanted to be a pilot from a young age because of her grandfather's service in World War II. She was among the flight school graduates in the first class of women eligible for direct assignment to fly combat aircraft. She was a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot Sherrill flew missions throughout Europe and in the Middle East. In 2000, she was based in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Sherrill served on active duty in the United States Navy for nine years, the final five in the rank of Lieutenant. In 2003 Sherrill was nominated for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. She left the Navy in 2003

While earning her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Sherrill was a summer associate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis.

After leaving Kirkland & Ellis, Sherrill joined the United States Attorneys' Office. In 2015, Sherrill became an assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. She left that office in 2016.

Sherrill announced her campaign for New Jersey's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Her election was endorsed by The New York Times.
Sherrill won the Democratic primary with 77% of the vote. On November 6, Sherrill beat Republican Jay Webber with 56.8% of the vote to Webber's 42.1%. Sherrill is the first Democrat to win this seat since 1984. She would be re-elected in 2020, 2022 and 2024.
Following her election, Sherrill joined the moderate New Democrat Coalition. She also joined the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of moderate and conservative House Democrats

In 2019, Sherrill initially opposed the first impeachment of President Donald Trump, but she then changed her position after it was revealed that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate then-former Vice President Joe Biden. She supported a second impeachment of Trump after the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol riot and attack.

On July 9, 2024, Sherrill became the seventh House member to publicly support President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 United States presidential election after his debate against former President Trump.

On November 12, 2024, Sherrill announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor in the 2025 gubernatorial election. In June 2025, Sherrill won the Democratic nomination  Other candidates in the Democratic primary included Newark mayor Ras Baraka and U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer

After winning the Democratic nomination and facing Republican nominee  Jack Ciattarelli in the general election. CBS News reported that the National Archives and Records Administration had released a mostly uncensored version of Sherrill's military records to Nicholas De Gregorio, an ally of Ciattarelli. CBS News also found that Sherrill's congressional campaign had lied about her military rank, but did not find instances of Sherrill personally doing so.

*  Governor's Office