The 2025 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2025, to elect the governor of New Jersey. Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican former state assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli in a landslide. Incumbent Democratic Governor Phil Murphy was term-limited.
Primary elections were held on June 10, 2025. Sherrill won the Democratic nomination with 34% of the vote over a field of candidates that included Newark mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop. Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee in 2021, won his second consecutive nomination with almost 68% of the vote over radio talk show host Bill Spadea.
After strong Republican performances in the state in 2021 and 2024, many analysts expected a close race. Some polls suggested the election was a toss-up. However, Sherrill outperformed expectations and won with a decisive 14.36% margin of victory, slightly larger than Murphy's 14.14% margin in 2017. This election was the widest Democratic margin since 2001, and the highest vote share for a Democratic nominee since 1989. Sherrill was the first Democratic gubernatorial candidate to win Morris County since 1973. Sherrill also lost Hunterdon County by single digits, which is the narrowest Republican margin since 1977. Both Sherrill and Ciattarelli obtained the most votes cast in any New Jersey gubernatorial election, and this election had the highest turnout since 1997.
Sherrill was sworn in as the 57th governor of New Jersey on January 20, 2026. She became the second female governor in New Jersey history, the first Democratic female governor in New Jersey history, and the first female military veteran to serve as governor of a U.S. state. This election was the first New Jersey gubernatorial election since 1961 in which either party won the governorship for three consecutive terms.
New Jersey has long been considered a blue state, consistently voting Democratic at the federal level since 1992 and generally voting Democratic at the state level as well. Republicans have not won a statewide election in New Jersey since the 2013 gubernatorial election, but recent statewide, especially gubernatorial, elections have been notably competitive.
In 2021, Governor Murphy was re-elected by a 3.2% margin, considerably down from his 14.1% margin of victory in 2017. A similar rightward shift was seen at the presidential level in 2024, when Democrat Kamala Harris won New Jersey by 5.9%, considerably down from 2020, when Joe Biden won New Jersey by 15.9%. Harris had the worst performance in New Jersey of any Democratic nominee since 1992, with Donald Trump becoming the first Republican nominee to lose New Jersey by just single digits since 2004.
Most polls, analysts and ratings showed Sherrill to be the favorite, although the polls narrowed beginning in mid-September.
This election was considered to be an indicator of the popularity of Donald Trump's second presidency in the state. Until 2021, New Jersey had elected a governor of the opposite party of the sitting president of the United States in every election since 1989. Until this election, New Jersey had not elected the same party to the governor's office for more than two consecutive terms since 1961.
In October 2025, the Trump administration announced that the Department of Justice would deploy election monitors to polling sites in California and New Jersey ahead of the November 4 elections. The administration cited concerns raised by Republican officials about alleged voting irregularities. Democratic leaders in both states criticized the move as politically motivated voter intimidation, while the department said the monitors would ensure transparency and compliance with federal law.
The in-person early voting period ran from October 25 to November 2, 2025.
Aggregate polls
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic:
Sherrill won ten of 12 congressional districts, including her own and one held by a Republican.
Sherrill won 28 of 40 state legislative districts, including four with Republican state senators. Ciattarelli won 12 districts, including one held by a Democrat.
Sherrill was able to win New Jersey by over 14%, nearly matching Joe Biden's 16% victory in 2020, and winning the same counties as Biden. According to a CNN exit poll, Sherrill won 94% of Black voters, 68% of Hispanic voters, and 82% of Asian voters. Sherrill also won 54% of White women.
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