To a Saturday evening crowd of about 130 people in Monmouth County, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) presented her vision for New Jersey this year, telling voters the gubernatorial contest is more than an election, but also a referendum on President Donald Trump. 

New Jersey is one of two states with a gubernatorial election this year, alongside Virginia.

“I think this race and the race in Virginia can be an organizing principle around how we create the path forward,” Sherrill said. “Because it’s not enough to [just] fight Trump. It’s not enough, because people also need governance, and they need someone to fight the status quo, and they need a new vision for the future, and they need to know that a governor is going to govern.”

In a small, warm civic building in Atlantic Highlands, Sherrill spoke for about eight minutes and took questions for another 20. The only other gubernatorial candidate mentioned by name was 2021 nominee Jack Ciattarelli, a Republican. (“We see Jack Ciattarelli breaking land-speed records to get to Bedminster to kiss Trump’s ring,” she said.)

While the somewhat short event didn’t create many opportunities for in-depth policy talk, the Democrat emphasized her support for policies to build more housing and produce more energy. Sherrill told the group that solar and wind energy presented opportunities for New Jersey to increase production, but she’s especially interested in nuclear energy. The congresswoman said further investment in nuclear plants would drive energy prices down while reducing the state’s dependency on coal power from other states, which she called “the dirtiest power that we have.”

“If we are truly going to meet all the needs, you keep coming back to nuclear to really expand how much power we can produce cleanly,” she told the crowd.

Sherrill’s campaign recently joined TikTok, the social media app that’s caught flak over concerns its parent company could be used as a tool for spying and manipulation by the Chinese government. Sherrill sponsored legislation effectively banning the app if the Chinese company ByteDance didn’t sell the platform. Trump, meanwhile, has given ByteDance multiple extensions to keep TikTok past the congressionally approved deadline.

Sherrill told the New Jersey Globe she believed those extensions are illegal and that Trump should enforce the deadline. She also accused the company of contributing to a mental health crisis among young Americans. Still, the congresswoman has said she needs to “meet people where they are,” and she told the New Jersey Globe that her campaign has taken steps to ensure the account doesn’t lead to security vulnerabilities. 

With the Trump administration’s aggressive executive action worrying Democrats across the country, Sherrill said her federal experience will be necessary. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, two gubernatorial competitors, have touted their municipal experience on the campaign trail, arguing Trenton needs a governor who deeply understands how state policies will interact with local governments.

But Sherrill, who served in the Navy and worked as a federal prosecutor before her time in politics, argues her congressional experience will provide the state with stable leadership under an unpredictable president.

“We’re going to have to take on the federal government to claw those dollars back to run our state systems,” she told the New Jersey Globe. “So that combination of understanding both the federal [government] and the state, I think that’s something somewhat unique to my candidacy.”