New Jersey’s governor’s race is shaping up to be a close one despite sharply differing visions coming from each candidate on federal immigration detention policies.
The state could double down on its current sanctuary protections and vote for Democratic U.S. Representative Michelle “Mikie” Sherrill, who has called for a comprehensive, bipartisan solution to immigration reform. Or they could vote for Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and is running on a platform closely aligned with MAGA messaging. Voting Ciattarelli would almost guarantee a pivot toward a rapid rollback of New Jersey’s sanctuary policies, with stronger cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE.
According to recent statewide polls, Sherrill, who beat out Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for the Democratic party nomination in June, leads Ciattarelli by just single digits, with one survey last week showing her six points ahead (48% to 42%) among probable voters and another from late July finding her eight points ahead (45% to 37%).
Despite Sherrill’s slim lead, Democrats remain concerned. The number of registered Republicans in the state has grown 35% since 2017 while the number of registered Democrats has fallen by about 2% since 2021, as reported by the New Jersey Monitor.
It has also been roughly 60 years since the Democrats have held the state’s governorship for three consecutive terms.
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The Democratic National Committee said Thursday that it would spend $1.5 million on the race, one of the largest and earliest investments the organization has made to state Democrats in an off-year election cycle, New Jersey Spotlight News said. The pledge came on the heels of a $20 million funding commitment last month from Greater Garden State, a super PAC backed by the Democratic Governors Association.
Meanwhile, the debate over federal immigration enforcement policies continue.
Recently the federal government floated the idea of a third detention center in New Jersey at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, about 18 miles southeast of Trenton. The state currently has two immigrant detention centers, Elizabeth Detention Center and Delaney Hall, which reopened in May. The reopening of the latter, a 1,000-bed ICE facility in Newark operated by a private contractor, has been accused of inhumane practices and has drawn protests from immigrant advocates and local officials, including Newark Mayor Baraka, who was arrested during a May demonstration.
Sherrill criticized the plan as “unacceptable” and called on the Trump administration to reverse the decision. “This is a blatant misuse of one of New Jersey’s most critical military assets and reduces a vital national security installation to a stage for political theater, which flies in the face of an apolitical military,” she said in a statement. “Using the base for detention operations risks degrading operational capacity, places an inappropriate burden on our service members, and harms civil-military relations.”
Other Democrats also oppose the Fort Dix plan, including Cory Booker and Andy Kim, the state’s two U.S. senators.
Ciattarelli, however, has criticized state leaders for resisting the plan. “NJ Democrats, including Mikie Sherrill, created a crisis by putting out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants with their dangerous Sanctuary State policies,” he said. “Having created the crisis, they now want to blame the White House for being forced to deal with it. That’s like an arsonist complaining about having started a fire.”
Ciattarelli has said that if he wins in November, his first executive order would be to end any sanctuary policies. He has also said that if he wins, he will not appoint an attorney general who pursues lawsuits against the White House. The state’s current attorney general has taken on the president in a number of prominent legal battles, including a case challenging his directive to end birthright citizenship.
Also Read: ‘Cruelty is built into the system’: ICE Set to Open New Immigration Detention Center in New Jersey
President Trump, at least, is hoping voters will be swayed by Ciattarelli’s approach. “New Jersey is ready to pop out of that blue horror show and really get in there and vote for somebody that’s going to make things happen,” he said when he endorsed the candidate in June.
With less than three months until Election Day, it remains to be seen whether he’s right in a race that could reshape how New Jersey interacts with federal authorities, the future of its detention facilities and the daily realities of thousands of its immigrant residents.
