Montclair’s Mikie Sherrill Says Campaign Donations Are Rolling In

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and former Assistant U.S. Attorney, announced Wednesday that she has raised $245,957 this past quarter for her campaign for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District against longtime incumbent, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.

In just six weeks, Sherrill’s campaign has received 1,919 individual donations, she stated.

She’s also earned endorsements from elected officials and advocacy groups such as U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and the nonprofit Vote Vets.

According to a previous release from her campaign team, Sherrill, a Montclair resident who is raising four children ages 11, 10, 7, and 5 with her husband, has some unique qualifications for the job:

• Graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1994; earned law degree from Georgetown University, and a master’s degree in global history from the London School of Economics and Political Science
• Former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot (flew missions “throughout Europe and the Middle East” and “worked on the battle watch floor in the European Theater during the Iraq invasion”)
• Former federal prosecutor (U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey)

“The energy and grassroots support our campaign has received so early is incredible,” Sherrill said. “It demonstrates that folks in New Jersey are ready for a representative who will listen to them and stand up to President Trump, rather than entrench themselves in Washington politics. After 22 years in Washington, Rodney Frelinghuysen is simply a rubber stamp for the president, voting with him 100 percent of the time. Not only that, but he still refuses to meet with constituents to explain himself. We deserve better.”

• See related article: Montclair Woman, Ex-Prosecutor To Challenge Frelinghuysen For Congress

Sherrill faces a tough political opponent in Frelinghuysen, the Chairman of House Committee on Appropriations, who has run without a serious threat to his post for decades. It’s a lack of challenge that hasn’t escaped the eyes of some New Jersey residents and political pundits.

• See related article: Frelinghuysen Criticized At Essex County Town Hall (VIDEO)
• See related article: Frelinghuysen Votes Yes On Revised Health Care Bill

In 2000, in an attempt to put a spotlight on the lack of challenge to Frelinghuysen’s seat in the House of Representatives, filmmaker Michael Moore spearheaded a now-infamous campaign that ran a ficus plant as a write-in candidate on both the Democrat and Republican Party ballots in New Jersey’s 11th District.

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Photo: Mikie Sherrill, Twitter