Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair)’s ongoing campaign for governor has kept her away from Washington for a large number of House votes this year, and a new GOP challenger back at home in the 11th congressional district wants Sherrill’s constituents to know it.
Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, who launched a campaign for Sherrill’s seat yesterday, said this afternoon that of the 282 House roll call votes taken in 2025, Sherrill only cast votes on 152 (54%) of them. If Sherrill is serious about accountability – she announced earlier this week that she won’t take a congressional salary during the ongoing government shutdown – Hathaway said she should return half of her paycheck from this year as well.
“As a mayor, if I skipped half my meetings, I’d be held accountable, and rightfully so,” Hathaway said. “If Mikie truly believes members of Congress shouldn’t get paid when they aren’t doing their jobs, then she should return half of her taxpayer-funded salary immediately.”
Sherrill’s campaign said in response that the congresswoman is focused on battling President Donald Trump, referencing the decision yesterday to freeze funding for the Hudson Gateway Tunnel project, though the campaign’s statement does not directly address the congresswoman’s missed votes.
“Right now Mikie is fighting Trump and Washington Republicans’ catastrophic healthcare cuts and attack on the Gateway Tunnel, critical to New Jersey residents,” Sherrill spokesperson Sean Higgins said. “She’s running for governor to stand up to anyone who messes with New Jersey – and it’s crystal clear that Jack doesn’t have the backbone to do the same.
When Sherrill and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) launched their campaigns for governor last year, it was clear that votes in the House, which has a razor-thin Republican majority, would be a recurring issue. Sherrill acknowledged at the time that she wouldn’t be able to show up for every single vote, but she said she’d work with Democratic leaders to ensure she would be there when she was needed.
The congresswoman was, indeed, present for votes on major bills like the One Big Beautiful Bill and the stopgap funding bill House Republicans passed last month. But some other recent notable votes haven’t been able to fit into her schedule; she didn’t vote on a controversial Energy Department appropriations bill that only passed 214-213 (meaning her no vote could have theoretically caused it to fail), nor was she there for a surprise successful effort to kill a censure resolution against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark).
Hathaway, for his part, will be in an interesting limbo for the next month of his congressional campaign. He says he’s confident Jack Ciattarelli will win the gubernatorial race, and that he’ll go up against Sherrill in next year’s 11th district race – but there are good odds Sherrill will win instead, and Hathaway will suddenly have to switch gears to running in a special election for her Democratic-leaning seat.
In the meantime, though, Hathaway serves a useful purpose for Ciattarelli and the New Jersey GOP: an attack dog who can argue that Sherrill isn’t doing right by her 11th district constituents.
“New Jersey families deserve a representative who shows up for them,” Hathaway said today. “Mikie Sherrill is more focused on her political ambitions than on her job. If she can’t do the work she was elected to do, she should step aside – or at the very least, stop cashing the checks funded by hardworking taxpayers.”
