Voting Underway in New Jersey’s Gubernatorial Primary Contest

The Democratic Primary is competitive among several big candidates, with Rep. Mikie Sherrill as the leader. For the GOP, Jack Ciattarelli is the Trump endorsee.

(Top L-R) Ras Baraka; Mikie Sherrill; (Bottom L-R) Josh Gottheimer; Steve Sweeney; Steven Fulop. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images; Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

New Jersey is voting today, June 10, for its political parties’ nominees for governor, as part of the 2025 gubernatorial election.

Eleven candidates are participating in the primary across both the Democratic and Republican parties. Two will advance to the general election.

New Jersey’s gubernatorial election is always held in “off-cycle” years, after a presidential election and before the next congressional election.

Along with Virginia’s gubernatorial election, it is often seen as a referendum by voters on the performance of the new U.S. president during his first year in office.

During the 2021 election, incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) was narrowly reelected over Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli, a result that was closer than expected and interpreted as dissatisfaction with then-President Joe Biden.

This time, Murphy is term-limited and Ciattarelli is running again, with President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a large Republican polling lead, though he is still facing four other candidates.

The Democratic primary is even more competitive, with several prominent candidates. Below, we describe those candidates, their platforms, and their competitiveness in the race.

Mikie Sherrill

Sherrill is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, which covers Morris County and areas northwest of New York City.

She has served in Congress since 2019 and is a former U.S. Naval aviator who flew helicopters in the 1990s.

Sherrill is the frontrunner in the race, according to most polls.

The latest one, conducted by Emerson College, showed her as having 28 percent support among Democratic voters, which is more than 17 percentage points above all other candidates.

Her campaign platform is centered on bringing down the costs of food, housing, and health care.

Ras Baraka

Baraka is the mayor of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, and a part of the New York Metropolitan Area, where the state’s biggest airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, is located.

He has served in that role since 2014.

Baraka recently attracted controversy after he was arrested for attempting to enter a detention facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without authorization, though charges were later dropped by the Trump administration.

Baraka is currently polling at 11 percent in the race, significantly behind Sherrill.

Baraka’s campaign platform involves reforming the state’s budget by making “equity” a primary consideration while lowering taxes on earners making under $90,000, while raising taxes elsewhere.

Steven Fulop

Fulop is the mayor of Jersey City, another large urban area that is part of metropolitan New York City across the Hudson River.

He has served in that role since 2013 and is the first mayor in nearly 70 years to win three terms, since the leader of New Jersey’s Democratic political machine, Frank Hague, in 1947.

Previously, he worked at the investment bank Goldman Sachs and was an enlistee in the U.S. Marine Corps who served in Iraq.

Fulop, like Baraka, is polling at 11 percent.

The top issues for his campaign are public safety and criminal justice, as well as public transit.

The latter is a major issue in New Jersey, whose railroad, the “New Jersey Transit,” is a critical artery to transport professionals who live in New Jersey to their places of work in New York City.

Josh Gottheimer

Gottheimer is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District, serving since 2017.

In Congress, he has gained attention since Oct. 7, 2023, for his advocacy for Israel and his criticism of fellow Democratic members of Congress for their opposition to the country.

Gottheimer is polling at 11 percent. He has defined his campaign by advocacy for lower taxes and, akin to Sherrill, lowering the cost of living.

Steve Sweeney

Sweeney is a former president of the New Jersey Senate and a state senator from the Third District.

He made national headlines in 2021 after losing reelection to Republican candidate Edward Durr, a truck driver and political novice who spent approximately $2,300 on his campaign.

Sweeney is polling at just 5 percent, with a campaign platform that promises a public health insurance program and building public infrastructure.