NJ governor election: County-by-county results show gap between Sherrill, Ciattarelli

NJ Gubernatorial Election Recap - Democrat Mikie Sherrill Wins!!

A full recap of the NJ Gubernatorial election in which Democratic Nominee Representative Mike Sherrill defeats Republican Nominee Jack Ciattarelli by a wider margin than what was predicted.

NEW JERSEY - The 2025 election results aren’t official yet, but early county numbers are shedding light on Mikie Sherrill's win, and how much ground Republican Jack Ciattarelli lost between this election and his previous bid to be New Jersey's governor.

2025 New Jersey governor election

What we know:

Ciattarelli narrowly lost out to current Gov. Phil Murphy in the 2021 election. Perhaps based on those results, Ciattarelli decided to run for a third time this go around, but again it did not work out as planned. In fact, this time Ciattarelli lost by a significantly wider margin.

RELATED: Mikie Sherrill wins NJ governor race, beating Jack Ciattarelli: AP

County-by-county results

By the numbers:

Voters spoke at the polls resoundingly in Sherrill’s favor on Nov. 4, winning by nearly 14 points. Compare that to Murphy's 3-point win in 2021.

Here's how the votes broke down by county:

Four counties flipped from Ciattarelli in 2021 to Sherrill in 2025 — Atlantic, Cumberland, Gloucester and Morris counties.

But Democrats gained points in every county in the state compared to Murphy’s 2021 run, with the biggest swing left in rural Sussex County in Northern New Jersey. Even in Republican strongholds like Monmouth and Ocean counties, which haven’t voted majority Democrat since 2001, votes swung slightly toward Democrats, with Sherrill narrowing the gap by more than 10 points compared to 2021.

The backstory:

Sherrill and Ciattarelli both campaigned hard on making the state more affordable, focusing on things like rising energy prices and taxes. While Ciattarelli wanted to pull out of clean energy initiatives, Sherill wanted to crack down on utility companies and rate hikes. The two candidates differed drastically on issues like healthcare and abortion, affordable housing and more.

When will the election results be official?

What's next:

The New Jersey Board of State Canvassers is required by law to count the votes and announce the election results no more than 30 days after Election Day. That’s Dec. 4, 2025.

Sherrill will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2026.