Mikie Sherrill’s first 100 days as N.J. governor have been marked by battles with Trump and FIFA
“We’ve just tackled problems,” she said.
Thursday marks New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s 100th day in office — though she said it feels like it’s been 100 years.
Sherrill sat down with NJ.com for an hour-long live interview at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark Wednesday night, the same venue where she was sworn in on Jan. 20.
The Democrat’s first 100 days have been defined by battles with both President Donald Trump and FIFA, efforts to bring more energy generation, her first budget proposal, and her decision to move farther south this summer from Montclair to the governor’s mansion in Princeton.
“We’ve just tackled problems,” she said. “And I think the sort of mantra of the administration is all of our problems are solvable, and we’re here as your New Jersey government to solve them.”
She talked about all that and more on Wednesday, including what she wants to do next and her desire to bring the Brooklyn Nets back to New Jersey, where the team played from 1977 to 2012. She also shared stories about her four kids, particularly her youngest daughter who is in middle school.
She mentioned South Jersey a couple of times despite the North Jersey setting — including nuclear energy in Salem County and innovation at Atlantic City’s airport.
The former member of Congress said she’s been able to be more productive as New Jersey’s executive than the notoriously gridlocked Washington, and she said she has a mini-office in her car where she takes Zoom calls on what resembles an airplane tray table during her commute to Trenton.
Even just a few months into her first term as governor, New Jerseyans have wondered if she has higher aspirations. Sherrill said she wants to be a two-term governor, but didn’t necessarily rule out presidential, vice presidential, or cabinet aspirations for the future.
“I am really dedicated to what I’m doing right now, and I really love this work,” she said. “It would be hard for me to envision something that I love as much as what I’m doing now.”
Favorite mall: She said Short Hills is probably the best but she ends up at the Willowbrook most because it’s her daughter’s favorite.
Diner order: Two eggs over easy with sliced tomatoes instead of hash browns and rye toast with no butter on it. “It’s not disco fries ... it’s my age.”
Favorite Bruce Springsteen song: Currently, "Thunder Road." She sings "Jersey Girl" to her daughters but isn't sure if that counts because it was originally by Tom Waits.
Tension with President Donald Trump
Sherrill wasn’t afraid to cite her various legal battles with the Trump administration and pointed a finger at the federal government various times throughout the conversation.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration sued New Jersey over a new law banning lCE and all other law enforcement agents from wearing masks or failing to identify themselves (with exceptions for undercover work and safety concerns).
The governor, who ran on a message of affordability and fighting Trump, also criticized the president’s decision to start a war with Iran and the resulting spike in gas prices.
“If the federal government is going to make such bad decisions, it is going to be harder and harder at the state level to make sure that we are continuing our economy and growing it,” she said.
She said the state is putting efforts behind innovation, like an agreement made under former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy with tech company NVIDIA for an AI curriculum as well as electronic vertical takeoff aircraft at the Atlantic City International Airport.
She said was never opposed to working with Trump, but she won’t “kneel to him or bow to him in any way.”
A sports fan who has a score to settle with FIFA
Sherrill’s administration has faced pushback from FIFA for announcing that NJ Transit tickets to the World Cup will cost $150, but Sherrill has made the case that the state shouldn’t pick up the check for the cost of transporting thousands of fans. She’s argued that FIFA should pay for the tickets, which the organization has rebuffed.
Heimo Schirgi, the chief operating officer for FIFA World Cup 2026, called Sherrill’s suggestion “unprecedented” and warned the elevated fares will push people into other modes of transportation and exacerbate congestion.
The governor said she grew up watching baseball and football, though she played soccer as a young girl and became a huge fan after watching Mia Hamm-era women’s soccer. She explained a visceral feeling of watching women play a sport that she played herself.
“It was a really different experience, so ever since then, I’ve had just this deep love of soccer,” she said.
Her middle school daughter is a soccer player as well, so Sherrill joked that she is a “little bit of an expert” on the matter.
“My love of soccer does not always transfer to FIFA,” she said.
Sherrill also said she has pressed to try to bring the Nets back to New Jersey after the team left for Brooklyn in 2012, but hasn’t “made a lot of headway yet.” She hinted that another sports team may come to the state in the future without providing specifics.
Salem is ripe for more nuclear energy because there aren’t “NIMBY issues”
Sherrill signed a law earlier this month that ends what was essentially a moratorium on new nuclear projects in New Jersey at the nuclear power plant in Salem County.
While the long- term goal for generating more nuclear power would be to lower utility bills, a big hurdle is how the construction of a new project will actually be financed. PSEG, which operates the plant, has made clear that it’s not interested in paying for that, so it’s unclear how new projects would be paid for without putting the burden on ratepayers.
» READ MORE: New Jersey ratepayers are on the hook for canceled projects amid Trump’s war on wind
Sherrill has so far said the federal government should take the lead on financing nuclear power. And she said New Jersey is uniquely situated to thrive in the industry.
For one, the Salem plant is one of six sites in the country that has long had an early site approval to build another reactor on the site, where residents in the region are accustomed to being around nuclear power.
“It was always anticipated we’d build another nuclear reactor down there,” she said. “And so we don’t have the NIMBY issues. It’s been an incredibly safe plant.”
Plus, she said the state can meet the workforce needs with a high concentration of scientists and engineers as well as a nuclear apprenticeship program at Princeton.
“The type of welding you need to do at nuclear plants is very difficult and very specialized, so we’re growing that workforce for the future,” she said.
So what’s next?
Sherrill will be entangled in budget negotiations with the state legislature in the coming weeks, as the state spending plan is due by the end of June.
She said she’s been wanting to tackle education and healthcare more than she’s been able to in her first 100 days.
She said that legislators know their district best and she’s open to adding funding for programs she proposed cutting if her team “made the wrong calculation” like if a certain program was “just getting started,” as long lawmakers also have subtractions in mind.
For example, Sherrill’s proposal to cut all state funding for Rowan University’s nascent veterinary school, which only has its first class of students and addresses a large animal veterinarian shortage, has sparked backlash in South Jersey.
» READ MORE: Rowan's new vet school has been operating for less than a year. Gov. Mikie Sherrill wants to cut its state funding
Among Sherrill’s funding priorities are improving mental health services for youth and creating a new social media research center focused on young people’s mental health.
She said she’s been working on limiting her middle school daughter’s phone functions for a certain number of hours during the day (which can be done through apps and other products) and “she finally asked for some books.”
“If she’s listening to this she’ll stop reading them, because she’s very much a contrarian,” Sherrill added.
