New Jersey Governor's New Hampshire Visit Boosts Sullivan, Fuels 2028 Talk

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

If you want to win a fight in Washington, D.C., send a veteran.

That was the message New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill delivered Wednesday during a campaign stop for NH-01 Democratic candidate Maura Sullivan at the To Share Brewing Company in Manchester.

“We need in Washington to send in the fighters,” Sherrill, a U.S. Navy veteran, told the group of about 60 who gathered at the brewery. “We need to send in a Mom. We need to send in a Marine.”

Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, represented New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District from 2019 until becoming governor last November. She’s New Jersey’s first female Democratic governor and the first female military veteran elected governor of any state.

Earlier Wednesday, Sherrill campaigned in Massachusetts with U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran challenging Sen. Ed Markey in the Sept. 1 Democratic primary. She then traveled to Concord to support U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, a former Navy Reserve intelligence officer seeking reelection in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District. Goodlander currently serves on the House Armed Services and Small Business committees.

Sherrill finished the day at the Manchester brewery, where some 60 supporters gathered for what the Sullivan campaign promoted as “beers with Mikie and Maura.”

Also on tap: A protester holding a “Maura Hearts AIPAC” sign, echoing Stefany Shaheen’s attack on Sullivan over donations from supporters of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee.”

Sullivan, a Marine veteran and former Obama administration official, has touted her military experience on the campaign trail and argued Wednesday that it separates her from the rest of the Democratic field.

“If we want a different kind of Washington, we have to send a different kind of leadership down there,” Sullivan said. “We have to send leadership that is grounded in service, a proven fighter, and ready to fight like heck to take on Trump and this administration, lower costs, build an economy that works for everybody, and to root out this corruption.”

This is Sullivan’s second campaign for the NH-01 seat. She finished second to Chris Pappas in the crowded 2018 Democratic primary, losing by about 12 percentage points. The seat is open again because Pappas is running for the U.S. Senate.

In addition to Shaheen and Sullivan, the NH-01 Democratic primary field includes Harvard lecturer Carleigh Beriont, nonprofit activist Sarah Chadzynski, state Rep. Heath Howard and attorney and Army National Guard officer Christian Urrutia.

Sullivan has also emerged as the field’s strongest fundraiser. Her campaign reported raising about $3.2 million through the second quarter, with $1.6 million on hand. Shaheen, daughter of retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, has been unable to keep up, reporting about $2.2 million raised and some $1.2 million in cash on hand.

Shaheen released the first attack ad of the primary this week, targeting Sullivan over her fundraising. Campaign pros say it’s a sign the former frontrunner has polling showing she’s in trouble.

Democrats are betting that the 2026 midterms will be a referendum on President Donald Trump, who is unpopular in New Hampshire. Sherrill credited a group of veterans in Congress with helping build support for Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

“The first time we impeached President Donald Trump, it was led by a group of veterans in Congress,” Sherrill said. “We knew where Ukraine was, we knew what was going on with javelins and tanks and we knew that extorting President Zelensky so that he could manufacture evidence against Joe Biden and a democratic election in our country was against the oath to the Constitution.”

Sherrill’s visit coincides with a GOP push to address voter fraud and ballot security, in particular the SAVE Act, which is a top priority for President Trump. New Jersey has become a poster child for ballot security problems after it was discovered that some 6,600 non-citizens had registered to vote. State officials said approximately 340 of those people cast ballots which were counted and impacted state elections.

Sherrill has ordered an investigation into the failure and moved to replace the software vendor responsible for the tech failure, while claiming there is no evidence that the affected votes changed an election’s outcome.

Sherrill’s support for Sullivan is part of a broader national effort through her Mission to Deliver PAC. The PAC’s initial round of endorsements backed 13 Democrats with military or national security backgrounds running in competitive House and Senate races.

Her visit also carried an inevitable 2028 subtext. It was Sherrill’s first New Hampshire campaign swing as governor and came just seven months after she took office. Sherrill has acknowledged that she wants to influence the selection of the Democratic Party’s next presidential nominee, while Mission to Deliver gives her a vehicle to raise money, cultivate political allies and build a national network.

“When Maura goes to the House of Representatives and puts up her hand up – for the I don’t know how many times – to take her oath to the Constitution, she’s going to mean every word of it, and she’s going to make sure that in every vote she’s thinking of all of you,” Sherrill said.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.