Democrat Mikie Sherrill (LAW ’07), a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, is projected to win the Nov. 4 New Jersey gubernatorial election. 

Sherrill, the current U.S. representative to New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former representative of the New Jersey General Assembly, to become the 57th governor of New Jersey. The Associated Press (A.P.) called the race at 9:23 p.m. As of 10:17 p.m., Sherrill had garnered 56.3% of the vote, while Ciattarelli had garnered 43.2% of the vote with 84% of votes counted, according to the A.P.

As a student at Georgetown, Sherrill interned for then-Senator Patrick Leahy (LAW ’64, HON ’94, D-Vt.) and later worked for Kirkland & Ellis, a multinational law firm, before working as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. In 2018, Sherrill first ran for the U.S. House of Representatives — defeating then-12 term Republican Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen in a midterm election termed a “blue wave” — and has served in the House ever since.

Sherrill will be the second female governor of New Jersey, following Republican Christine Todd Whitman, who served from 1994 to 2001. Abigail Spanberger, who will become the first female governor of Virginia, and New York State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, who will become the first Indian American and Muslim mayor of New York City, were elected the same night as Sherrill. 

At Georgetown, Sherrill said she learned to emphasize the service aspect of education.

“Somebody at Georgetown told me it wasn’t simply a job, but was really a vocation. And that’s what being a lawyer at its best is,” Sherrill said at a 2024 Law Center event. “Whatever it is that you think your vocation is, you are now getting the tools to do it. And so my advice to you is to constantly be thinking of how you can be of service.”