Mikie Sherrill is a political novice, but she’s got the resume of a top-tier candidate. | Getty State Playbook Interviews New Jersey Playbook Interview: House candidate Mikie Sherrill

It’s going to take a big wave election to truly make Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen vulnerable, but there are signs it’s coming.

One of those signs is how easy it's been for Democrats to recruit candidates in the 11th Congressional District, which includes Morris, Essex, Passaic and Sussex counties. Not only is Assemblyman John McKeon weighing a run, but a new candidate emerged this week: Mikie Sherrill of Montclair, who on Thursday said she plans to run in the Democratic primary next year.


Sherrill is a political novice, but she’s got the resume of a top-tier candidate: A nine-year U.S. Navy veteran who flew helicopters in Europe and the Middle East and a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office. She's also got a law degree from Georgetown University.

I spoke with Sherrill on Thursday after she announced her campaign to challenge Frelinghuysen.

Q: When did you decide to run? When did you start thinking about it? And what really sparked it?

"I’ve always been interested in politics. Before [last year's] election, I had planned to go into criminal justice reform. I was looking at that, and when the election happened, there were a lot of issues I was incredibly concerned about. To put a fine point on it, I think this president is leading through fear and intimidation, and I strongly believe this is a nation of courage and optimism. The attack on the institutions of our government was disturbing to me.

I was meeting with a friend of mine to talk about an organization I might start and how I might affect change in Washington. She said, ‘You really need to run for Congress.’ I said ‘Oh well, maybe someday I will. Let’s get back to this plan.’ She said, ‘No, you really need to run. You know Representative Frelinghuysen, he refuses to meet with his constituents.’

After all of the attacks on ... our government, on the courts and putting out the Muslim ban, etc., it was kind of the final straw. That felt, to me, like Job One of a congressperson was to represent their constituents. We’re in a representative democracy. And so I found that that really is incredibly offensive.

I think Frelinghuysen’s been voting one way in Washington and he’s been representing himself a different way in the district. I think that’s becoming apparent."

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Q: This is still a Republican district. Frelinghuysen has never faced a serious challenge. Michael Moore famously tried to run a ficus tree against him. What makes 2018 different? Is it the Trump effect?

"I don’t think it’s only the Trump effect. I think this was traditionally a moderate Republican district. … I think it went for [John] McCain by about 9 percent, [Mitt] Romney by about 5, and [Donald] Trump by about half a percentage point. The district has been steadily moving to the left, and I would argue, too, the party has been moving away from the district.

I think this is a socially liberal district, and I don’t think the current party, as headed by Trump, represents the district. I think the combination of the district moving to the left, the incredible grassroots energy that is happening now, and I think the fact that Frelinghuysen, in voting 100 percent in lock-step with Trump, is really vulnerable right now."

Q: When did you leave the U.S. Attorney’s Office?

Last spring.

Q: It says on your LinkedIn profile that you were outreach coordinator? What is that and is that the only job you had there?

"I started there as an outreach and re-entry coordinator and then I became a federal prosecutor. When I started, I worked on the relationship between the office and different community members to build stronger ties between law enforcement and the community.

I also helped to start the district’s first re-entry court — it was a prisoner re-entry court — and in that effort, we would work with people coming out of federal prison to help work on the recidivism rate, to lower the rate of people who commit further offenses. And we do that by helping with housing and jobs, counseling services. That kind of thing. And then I became, like I said, a federal prosecutor.

Q: Did you work on any cases that were high profile in New Jersey?

"I don’t think any cases I worked on were particularly high profile. ... They were generally different violent crimes, drug offenses, racketeering, Ponzi schemes and tax schemes."

Q: Why did you leave the office?

"I really wanted to get into criminal justice reform. That was my plan. At the time I was leaving, the Koch Brothers on the one side and the ACLU on the other side were all proponents of criminal justice reform, so I really wanted to work on that."

Q: What did you wind up doing between then and now?

"I reached out to different organizations, wrote some policy papers about some of the issues.

There’s the school-to-prison pipeline. What happens in prison and how you can affect change in prison. There’s the cost of prison, there’s the cost of services outside and then there’s also the effect after prison during re-entry. I was writing some policy papers for different organizations and looking at different areas of that to attack."

Q: So you didn’t do any work related to Bridgegate while you were with the U.S. Attorney's office?

No, I did not. That’s correct.

Q: You didn't coincide with Governor Christie while you were in the U.S. Attorney's Office. But how would you describe the attitude toward the governor in the office that he led just a few years before you got there?

"I wasn’t there and quite a few of the people people that were there during Christie’s administration went on to work at the state, so a lot of those people weren’t still there. I think probably mixed reviews would best describe it."

Q: When did you get started in the Navy?

"I went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis and then I went right into the Navy after that."

Q: You flew a helicopter, right? What kind of helicopter and what kind of missions did you fly?

"I flew an H3 Sea King. The most famous Sea King is Marine One. … At the time, it was a utility squadron. So we flew out in Bahrain. We would do six-month deployments to Bahrain to support the fleet out in the Gulf. I did a six-month deployment to Naples, Italy, to support the Sixth Fleet there. We also did various missions with field training or torpedo recovery or search and rescue off the carrier. "

Q: Any combat missions?

"No, it was more support missions."

Q: Did you grow up in New Jersey?

"I grew up up and down the East Coast mostly. I went to high school in Reston, Virginia."

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Q: Are you from a military family?

"No, we moved for my dad’s job."

Q: When did you come to New Jersey?

About seven years ago. We were in New York City for about five years and then we came to Montclair about seven years ago."

Q: Why did you choose to live in New Jersey?

“It felt like home. I’m sort of from the mid-Atlantic region. It felt very comfortable here, like different places I’ve grown up in. I like the people. While I know some people only travel on I-95, New Jersey has some gorgeous areas. And I really like Montclair. Montclair is a very diverse place, and it was the type of place I wanted to raise my kids.

Q: You have kids?

"I have four kids ... 11, 10, 7 and 5. Girl, boy, boy, girl."

Q: I read that your husband is also a Navy veteran?

"He went to the Naval Academy as well. … We met when we were both stationed in Naples."

Q: What do you think should be done about the Affordable Care Act? Should it be left alone? Does it need to be tweaked? If so what needs to be tweaked?

“I don’t think anyone thinks it’s perfect. I think it needs to be tweaked. The American people have voiced their support for the ACA. I think both sides realize there are problems with it, so now it’s time to work to fix it. I think repealing it and replacing it would be disastrous. The ACHA put forward by the Republicans — which Frelinghuysen originally said he was going to vote no on because it was bad for New Jersey, which I agree, it’s bad for New Jersey — I think the American people don’t want that bill. I’m really hopeful that both sides can work to fix the ACA."

Q: What do you see as the big problems with the ACA that need to be fixed?

"I’d really like to delve a little more deeply into it. I think there are certainly some issues with prescription drug prices, for example. You might want to expand the middle-class families that receive tax breaks to pay for the plan. And there are certainly cost issues. I think we need to work to get the cost down for middle-class families.”

Q: Any other big issues you think Frelinghuysen needs to be challenged on?

"He claims he’s supported Planned Parenthood. That’s a very important organization. It does cancer screenings and provides health care for women in my district and across the country. He voted to defund it. He also voted to defund the EPA. In this area, with certain pollution sites and water quality, we’re very concerned about our environment and defunding the EPA is a bad decision — especially for someone who at one time considered himself a steward of the environment.

And then infrastructure. This area provides about, I think, 20 percent of the GDP by some measures. Working on the bridges and the tunnels and the trains would be a huge economic boon here and certainly to the country as a whole."

Q: Anything else you want to add?

"I feel strongly that Trump is leading from a position of fear and intimidation. I think I mentioned it earlier, but I strongly believe this is a country of courage and optimism. I think that’s when we’ve always been at our best.

Part of what I’m fighting for is this idea of a future based on those ideals. I think the world looks to us to provide a future plan, and an optimistic future plan. And this country has the courage to enact that. I think it’s time we started to remember the values that have traditionally made this country a great place and a great global leader, and to get back to those values."