Mikie Sherrill will headline DNC dinner in D.C. after Philly speech to business leaders

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill had a whirlwind day, rushing to headline a high-profile political event in Washington by way of a Philadelphia business conference.

The Democrat gave a 10-minute speech at the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia’s Leadership Exchange at Girard College ahead of schedule on Thursday before rushing to her Washington-bound train.

She was slated to headline the Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum opening dinner for donors and attendees alongside her friend and former roommate Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and historian Heather Cox Richardson.

The two stops are a sample of how Sherrill, a former member of Congress, is raising her national profile.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer — both Democrats — were also invited to speak at the Philadelphia conference, which had the theme of “collaboration across lines of difference,” but Sherrill was the only one to accept, per conference spokesperson Raymond Brothers.

She opened her speech with her signature Philadelphia joke, calling it the “Greater Camden Metropolitan Area,” and nodded to her love for the rich American history on both sides of the river.

Sherrill leaned into the theme of the conference by calling for collaboration among New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware while still trying to to lure businesses to the Garden State. Just last month, Burlington Coat Factory announced that it was leaving the South Jersey home it was named after to move to Philadelphia in light of Shapiro’s state incentives for businesses.

“As you consider regional expansion or investment, we want you to choose New Jersey,” Sherrill said as a direct invitation to the audience at the business-oriented event. “My team is ready to help you take your next step in the Garden State.”

More than 200 people attended from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, according to Jeff Hornstein, executive director of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

Sherrill juggled lauding business efforts in the other Delaware River states while keeping her focus on what she is proud of in New Jersey.

She touted the pharmaceutical industry and innovation efforts in New Jersey while praising robotics in Pennsylvania and business incorporation in Delaware.

“Each of those is attractive on its own, but together they’re world-class,” she said.

“If all of us in this room can work together, we’re unstoppable,” she added.

Asked for an example of cross-state collaboration as she rushed out of the building, Sherrill shouted out: “Photonics.”

Photonics is a method of using light particles instead of electrons to transmit information, as in fiber-optic cables. This effort is already underway — Princeton University has a regional consortium of groups across Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware studying the practice called Advancing Photonics Technologies.

Sherrill left Senate President Nicholas Scutari, a North Jersey Democrat, in charge of the Garden State after departing Philadelphia for Washington. Sherrill is currently without a lieutenant governor after her former No. 2, Dale Caldwell, resigned last month.

The same DNC dinner that Sherrill was slated to address had been headlined by former President Barack Obama in 2015 and former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022, according to a source familiar with the matter. It kicks off a day full of panels on Friday featuring a slew of prominent Democratic women, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New York Attorney General Letitia James, with tickets ranging from $250 to $44,300.

During her quick Philly visit, the New Jersey governor tipped her hat to Shapiro for his agreement with regional grid operator PJM to cap costs across 13 states while emphasizing her own efforts at increasing energy production in New Jersey with the goal of lowering costs.

“Today, 67 million customers across the region are benefiting from that collaboration, but New Jerseyans were demanding that our state go even further to drive down costs in the short and long term,” she said. “We need, and we are implementing, transformative change in energy production and the utility business model in New Jersey.”

She said that she has approved 18 solar and battery storage projects and expanded the state’s community solar program by 3,000 megawatts since taking office.

She said her attempt to expand nuclear energy production in South Jersey would help lower energy bills across the region and “create good-paying jobs across state lines.”

“Our two plants in Salem County employ 1,600 technicians and engineers from both New Jersey and Delaware,” she said. “Just imagine how many more careers we could build with another plant or two.”