New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill is vowing to put the Garden State on the front lines of resistance against President Trump when she takes office Tuesday.
The Democratic pol, who massively outperformed polling expectations last year after making her gubernatorial campaign all about Trump, argued Sunday that the president is at the heart of her state’s long list of affordability woes.
“Right now, the doors to opportunity are being shut down at every level,” Sherrill told ABC News’ “This Week” when asked about her aspirations as governor. “We see a president who constantly is running this tariff regime, putting more money in his own pocket and raising costs on everybody else.
“So we are fighting against that.”
Despite the president periodically visiting New Jersey to swing by his Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, he has made no attempt to contact her since her November victory, though she has talked to some people in his administration, she said.
Trump’s snub comes in the wake of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani scoring a surprisingly chummy visit with the president in the Oval Office in November after his sweeping election victory, despite Hizzoner’s far-left agenda and the frequent clashes between the pair last year. Sherrill refrained from backing Mamdani last year.
While Sherrill doesn’t appear to be high on Trump’s radar, she indicated she is hoping to become a thorn in his side and make the Garden State a model for fighting him.
“He’s continuing to twist our laws and our values to try to take over power,” Sherrill said. “And it’s inappropriate. And that is why, in New Jersey, I would say the opposition is forming. And it’s starting in New Jersey.”
She cited national issues such as Trump deploying thousands of immigration enforcement officers to Minneapolis in response to welfare fraud in Minnesota and unrest there over the fatal shooting of Renee Good.
“The protesters have been peaceful, but ICE hasn’t been,” Sherrill said. “They’re assaulting people on the street. They’re busting through windows in cars. People are driving their kids home from basketball practice, getting tear-gassed.
“I think the president’s trying to incite the protesters so that he can take America’s eyes off the fact that his militia that he’s building around this country is actually attacking American citizens,” Sherrill said
She also tore into Trump’s recent push to acquire Greenland.
“There is not one person in New Jersey that wakes up in the morning and says, ‘Gee, I hope today’s the day that the president dumps billions of dollars into buying Greenland while my grocery store costs continue to go up,’” the incoming New Jersey governor said.
“Nobody wants that trade.”
