Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), running against two high-profile Jewish challengers in Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop as she campaigns for governor of New Jersey, told Jewish Insider that if elected she’d work to make New Jersey a national model for combating antisemitism.

“From the moment I entered Congress, I’ve worked tirelessly to combat antisemitism,” Sherrill said in a statement to JI. “This issue is deeply personal and important to me, and I stay in close touch with Rabbis and leaders throughout New Jersey to make sure I understand and am responsive to the community’s needs. As governor, I will continue to call out and fight against antisemitism and work towards a day when our state is seen as a model nationwide.”

Gotthiemier has made fighting antisemitism —as well as his staunch support for Israel — a key focus during his time in Congress and touted his work on those issues during his campaign announcement in November. Fulop, who, like Gottheimer, is Jewish, has also highlighted his Jewish background and been vocal against antisemitism. 

While touting her work against antisemitism in her statement to JI, Sherrill hasn’t appeared to highlight the issue on the campaign trail since announcing her run on Nov. 18. She did vote for a resolution praising the State Department’s antisemitism guidelines on Nov. 21.

The Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic incidents more than doubled in 2023, and New Jersey has one of the nation’s largest Jewish populations. Rutgers University, in the state, also played host to an anti-Israel encampment this year, and administrators came under fire for making a deal with demonstrators to end the encampment.

Sherrill highlighted in her statement to JI that throughout her time in office, she’s had conversations with students and community members about antisemitism, helped New Jersey Jewish institutions receive security grants and rallied against antisemitic attacks inside and outside of the state.

She also noted that she wrote individually to college and university presidents in New Jersey in December to call on them to take steps to protect Jewish students in the aftermath of testimony by the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, which Sherrill condemned.

“Nothing has shocked me more than the disturbing rise in antisemitism that we’ve seen after the terrorist attack on October 7,” she continued. “This is especially concerning with teenagers, on our college campuses, and online. It is unacceptable. Every elected official has a responsibility to act to end this horrible trend.”

Sherrill has also backed efforts to secure additional funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program and implement the administration’s national strategy on antisemitism.

The New Jersey Democrat voted in favor of the Gottheimer-led Antisemitism Awareness Act, codifying Trump-era Department of Education regulations on campus antisemitism and a resolution calling on the presidents of Harvard and MIT to resign over campus antisemitism, but voted “present” on a resolution describing anti-Zionism as antisemitic and against a resolution censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for comments that many saw as antisemitic.

Prior to Oct. 7, Sherrill had joined a letter with fellow lawmakers calling on the Department of Education to address a significant backlog in antisemitism cases — an issue that has significantly worsened since Oct. 7, in addition to other calls for efforts to combat antisemitism. In 2019, she condemned Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for antisemitic comments.

Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, has also been critical of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza, and remained seated and unresponsive throughout much of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress earlier this year.