Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill is escalating her fight in the New Jersey governor’s race with a new digital ad that accuses the Trump administration and her Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign of breaking the law by obtaining and distributing her private military records. The ad, unveiled Monday, comes as the controversy over the release of those documents — which included Sherrill’s Social Security number and her parents’ home address — has taken center stage in the campaign.
“It’s not just a scandal. It is illegal,” a narrator declares in the ad, claiming the Trump administration improperly released Sherrill’s military file to Ciattarelli’s team, which then used it against her. The spot goes on to argue that Ciattarelli’s campaign not only received the records but refused to return them, saying, “They broke the law to attack a veteran. Just think what Jack Ciattarelli might do to you.”
The Ciattarelli campaign has pushed back strongly. Chris Russell, a top strategist, defended the release last week on social media, describing it as the result of a “legitimate and perfectly legal” Freedom of Information Act request. He added that the National Archives has already admitted the mistake and apologized for the unredacted disclosures. On Monday night, Russell accused Sherrill of trying to distract from what he called “the very real scandal” surrounding her time at the U.S. Naval Academy, and urged her to release her disciplinary records.
CBS News reported that its own investigation into Sherrill’s past uncovered a full military file that was sent to a Ciattarelli ally after a FOIA request. That file included Sherrill’s Social Security number on nearly every page, home addresses for her and her parents, her performance evaluations, and a nondisclosure agreement she signed to safeguard classified material. Although the numbers belonging to her former superiors were redacted, Sherrill’s personal details were not.
The Ciattarelli ally, Nicholas De Gregorio, confirmed that Russell had asked him to look into Sherrill and that he submitted the FOIA request. In response, Sherrill’s campaign has issued cease-and-desist letters to Ciattarelli, Russell, and De Gregorio, demanding they stop sharing her records, while also pressing the National Archives to preserve all documentation related to the release.
At the same time, Republicans have leaned into a different line of attack, resurfacing a decades-old cheating scandal at the Naval Academy during Sherrill’s time as a student. Reports from CBS News and the New Jersey Globe note that Sherrill did not walk with her class in 1994, though she still graduated and was commissioned as a Navy officer. In her defense, Sherrill explained that she refused to turn in classmates who were involved in the scandal, which prevented her from joining her peers at graduation. “I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly ten years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” she said in a statement.
Ciattarelli’s campaign has already released its own digital ad centered on the cheating allegations, highlighting reporting from the New Jersey Globe. With both sides trading accusations and negative ads, the battle over Sherrill’s military records and her time at the Naval Academy has now become one of the defining issues in the closely watched governor’s race.
