Mikie Sherrill’s Win Lifts Down-Ballot Democrats Across Central Jersey
The landslide didn’t stop at the top of the ballot. Democrats across Central Jersey rode her momentum to victories in key local and county races.
Mikie Sherrill with Middlesex County Democrats at a campaign event ahead of Election Day. (Sherrill campaign via Facebook)
November 5, 2025 (updated: 6:25 PM ET)
Mikie Sherrill’s decisive victory at the top of the ticket didn’t just return Democrats to the governor’s office. It carried their candidates to victory across Central Jersey.
From township councils to county commissions, Democrats rode Sherrill’s surge in turnout to extend their control of local government, flip seats in historically Republican suburbs, and solidify their footing in several key counties.
Ginger Schnitzer, Director of Education and Strategic Initiatives at the Eagleton Institute of Politics and a longtime Central Jersey resident, said Democrats “have a lot to celebrate” this year.
“This was the first time since 1961 that Democrats have won three straight gubernatorial races in New Jersey,” Schnitzer said. “Democrats really worked hard to put together a coalition and elect a governor.”
Schnitzer noted that both major parties face internal identity struggles — Republicans between moderates and their MAGA wing, and Democrats between progressives and centrists — but said Sherrill “was able to do what other Democrats maybe couldn’t do.”
“She was that candidate who could appeal to her moderate Democratic base and still not give up on progressives, unaffiliated voters, or Republicans who might not like MAGA,” Schnitzer said. “It’s clear that she picked up Republicans here, too.”
In Middlesex County, the results were visible soon after polls closed on Election Night. Voters who turned out in large numbers for the gubernatorial race also helped Democratic Mayor Sam Joshi secure re-election in Edison, where his slate swept all three at-large council seats.
Across the border in Woodbridge, Mayor John E. McCormac’s team once again dominated, maintaining full control of the township council. Turnout in both towns hovered near 50 percent, unusually high for local elections in an off-year.
In Rahway, voters re-elected Councilwoman Darlene Eastman in the 2nd Ward, who ran unopposed, reaffirming the city’s Democratic majority.
That momentum carried through the rest of Union County, where Democrats swept their slate of county offices. The party held its commission and clerk seats comfortably, though margins were slimmer in suburbs such as Summit and Cranford, where Republicans made modest gains compared with previous cycles.
Still, the results underscored how Sherrill’s performance at the top of the ticket helped secure another year of one-party control in some of the state’s most reliably Democratic counties.
Mikie Sherrill celebrated her victory Tuesday night in the governor’s race. Democrats posted record turnout and flipped key counties. (Sherrill campaign via Facebook)
At the legislative level, Sherrill’s victory positions Democrats for their strongest majority in years, possibly reaching 54 seats in the Assembly — a veto-proof margin.
In Monmouth County’s 11th Legislative District, Democrats Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul easily held onto their Assembly seats, extending their party’s reach along the northern shore from Asbury Park through Red Bank. In Mercer County’s 14th District, Democrats Wayne DeAngelo and Tennille McCoy retained their seats with double-digit margins.
In Somerset County’s 16th District, incumbents Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis prevailed over Republican challengers, reinforcing the district’s evolution from red to purple to blue.
And in District 21, Democrats flipped both Assembly seats in an area that had been a Republican stronghold since 1981, the home turf once represented by Congressman Tom Kean Jr. as a state legislator.
Schnitzer said the turnaround “puts Republicans on notice” heading into the midterms and could make Kean Jr.’s congressional seat a top Democratic target in 2026.
Schnitzer pointed to the strong turnout and the enthusiasm of the party as evidence of renewed Democratic energy both statewide and nationally.
Affordability proved a decisive issue across the region, with Sherrill emphasizing energy, housing, and property taxes while Ciattarelli focused on corporate taxes.
President Trump’s policies also hovered over the race.
“Trump didn’t help Ciattarelli by canceling funding to the Gateway Tunnel Project,” Schnitzer said.
Sherrill made the project a key part of her message to Central Jersey voters in the campaign’s final weeks. She held “Save Gateway” rallies at local train stations alongside former US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
She also pledged to “claw back” billions of dollars that New Jersey sends to the federal government each year in order to pay for programs defunded by the Trump administration.
At the county level, Democrats consolidated their hold on Mercer and Somerset, where incumbents kept every office on the ballot.
Republicans held onto top offices in Monmouth County, despite Sherrill flipping the county. Commissioner Thomas Arnone, Sheriff Shaun Golden, and County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon won their races, but by smaller margins than in prior elections.
The tightening spread between the parties mirrored results across the region, where turnout driven by the governor’s race lifted Democrats even in traditionally conservative precincts.
Across Central Jersey, Election Day 2025 ended as a year of consolidation rather than upheaval — one in which Democrats translated Sherrill’s commanding win into sustained down-ballot strength. The coattails from her campaign reshaped the political map from local councils to the State House, reaffirming Central Jersey’s role as the cornerstone of Democratic power in New Jersey.