Reproductive rights supporter Mikie Sherrill elected governor of New Jersey

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill was elected governor of New Jersey by a commanding margin on Nov. 4, besting her opponent, former Republican assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, by 13 points.

“New Jersey voters turned out because they know what is at stake and they trust Governor-elect Sherrill to protect their rights and reproductive freedom,” Mini Timmaraju, CEO and president of Reproductive Freedom for All, said in a statement.

Sherrill, a former Navy pilot, will be the second woman to serve as governor of New Jersey and will succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. 

Dawn Ericksen is an attorney working in Camden, New Jersey, who, in August, shared her abortion story with the New Jersey Independent. In an interview after the election, Ericksen said she believed one reason Sherrill won on Nov. 4 is that she didn’t shy away from directly addressing the issue of abortion and reproductive rights. 

Asked if she thought Sherrill had said anything that particularly resonated with voters, Ericksen said: “I think the fact she talked about it and she made these promises. She wasn’t dancing around. She wasn’t saying things like, Oh, well, you know, if it’s really needed, you should be able to get an abortion. She had a clear stance, and people, I think, respected that. I’ll speak for myself: I respected that.”

Asked about Ciattarelli’s stance on reproductive rights, Ericksen said: “I think the role is more that he was clearly aligned with Trump, and I think the voters rejected that, and obviously abortion is a big part of that right now. Probably government shutdown and things like that also play a large role, economic security. But what Sherrill stands for versus what Ciattarelli stands for are diametrically opposed.” 

New Jersey’s current Democratic administration has consistently supported access to abortion and reproductive health care. The state is one of 17 in which state-funded Medicaid insurance covers abortion. Federal funding for abortion has been prohibited by the Hyde Amendment, a restriction included in annual federal spending bills since 1976, except in cases of medical emergencies in which a pregnant woman’s life is at stake.

In 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Murphy signed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act, which recognized that the right to an abortion in enshrined in the state constitution. In June, New Jersey legislators passed a $58.8 billion budget that allocates $52 million for family planning services and reproductive health programs. 

Ericksen said she hopes to see even more reproductive justice initiatives in the future in her state, citing universal day care as an example. 

“I would love to see her take one step further and really further enshrine these, but I think in this environment, we can be grateful that we have this, which is sad to say. We always thought Roe was settled, and now we’re like, well, at least New Jersey’s safe, and it’s sad that we have to say those things,” Ericksen said. 

In an email sent to the New Jersey Independent in July, Sherrill said if she were elected, she would work to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution and to protect Planned Parenthood: “As the federal government rolls back critical funding for Medicaid and Planned Parenthood alike, I’ll protect women’s rights to reproductive healthcare and expand access to affordable health care for families.”