President Trump slammed Rep. Mikie Sherrill Friday – calling her a “corrupt radical left Democrat” – as he campaigned for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli one day before the start of in-person early voting in New Jersey.
“Mikie, as they call her, the only thing she’s got is an unusual name. Other than that, she’s terrible,” Trump said of the Garden State’s Democratic nominee for governor, during a tele-rally for Ciattarelli.
“He’s running against a fake and corrupt radical left Democrat opponent who had lots of problems in school, lots of problems with honesty for a long time,” the president added.
Sherrill (D-NJ) has been under pressure to release her US Naval Academy disciplinary records after the New Jersey Globe revealed last month that she was barred from walking at her 1994 commencement over her potential involvement in a cheating scandal at the Annapolis institution.
“Sherrill is very dishonest,” Trump continued. “Essentially thrown out of her school for cheating, wasn’t allowed to even go to her graduating ceremony – I don’t know how she even got through.”
“She’ll be a travesty as the governor of New Jersey.”
Trump further attacked Sherrill over her proposed energy policies.
The Democrat has described offshore wind as “the next frontier” in energy for the Garden State and has slammed Trump’s “federal attacks” on wind power.
Sherrill also sees boosting New Jersey’s solar capacity as a way to produce more power at a lower rate for residents.
“She’ll end up doubling and tripling your energy costs,” Trump claimed.
“Mikie Sherrill, such an innocent name, but her energy policies would send your prices soaring and make New Jersey even more expensive than it already is,” the president argued.
“We stopped the windmills on the Jersey Shore,” Trump said.
“They’re a disaster. That’s what’s driving your cost so high. They cost so much to build, to maintain, they’re ugly as can be,” he continued.
The president told voters: “If you vote Republican, your energy costs are going to go down tremendously.”
He said Ciattarelli “knows energy better than anybody I know outside of the energy business” and pledged to work with the Republican to drive down energy prices in the state.
“He’s got a friend in the White House … [Sherrill] certainly doesn’t, and you’re going to see some big results,” Trump said.
The tele-rally took place shortly after Ciattarelli faced voters at a forum in Newark, a Democratic stronghold.
Sherrill took the stage at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark after Ciattarelli, and urged residents to get out to the polls.
“New Jersey is a blue state. I have seen the voting records,” she said. “The only way we lose this is if we don’t vote.”
Sherrill leads Ciattarelli by 5 percentage points (50%-45%) in the latest Rutgers-Eagleton poll of likely voters –dramatic collapse from the 20-point lead she held in June.
Early voting for the Nov. 4 election begins on Saturday.
Additional reporting by Aristide Economopoulos
