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About Mikie
U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Navy helicopter pilot, former federal prosecutor, wife, and mother of four kids – Mikie Sherrill proudly serves New Jersey in Congress and is running for governor to make life easier and more affordable for Garden State families. Her career has been defined by service to her country and New Jersey.
Military Service and Naval Academy
Mikie was inspired to join the military by her grandfather, a World War II veteran. From a young age, she knew she wanted to fly and do big things. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1994 – the first class of women eligible for combat roles on ships and aircraft – Mikie spent almost 10 years on active duty in the United States Navy.
As a Sea King Helicopter pilot, she led missions throughout Europe and the Middle East. She worked on the Battle Watch Floor in the European Theater during the Iraq War, served as a Flag Aide to the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and was a Russian policy officer aiding in the implementation of our nuclear treaty obligations and oversaw the relationship between the U.S. Navy and Russian Federation Navy.
Legal Career and Federal Prosecutor
Following her service in the Navy, Mikie attended and graduated from law school. She worked in private practice and then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. As an Outreach and Reentry Coordinator, Mikie established programs to develop trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve and helped people leaving prison to gain employment, housing, and education to restart their lives. Then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, she prosecuted federal cases to keep our communities safe and worked to take illegal guns off the streets of New Jersey.
Congressional Service
After Donald Trump was first elected, Mikie knew she had to do something to stand up for New Jersey, her country, and the values she swore an oath to defend in the Navy. In her first-ever run for office, she led a grassroots movement and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 to represent New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District. Her campaign – where she drove an entrenched Republican incumbent out of the race – marked the biggest swing from red to blue in the country that year.
Fighting for New Jersey Families
As a mother raising four children, Mikie is a strong voice in Congress for New Jersey’s families. Mikie is working hard to bring down costs for families – whether it’s grocery prices, child care, or Trump’s SALT cap that punished New Jersey families. After constant roadblocks from the Christie and Trump administrations, Mikie helped deliver New Jersey’s fair share of federal funding on the Gateway Tunnel Project – the single-largest infrastructure project in American history, which will create good-paying union jobs and reduce commute times for families. She is fighting for reproductive freedom, defending abortion rights, as well as access to contraception and IVF.
Legislative Effectiveness
In 2023, Mikie was named the most effective New Jersey House lawmaker by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking for her years of work delivering on the concerns of Garden State residents.
Education and Qualifications
Mikie holds a Bachelor’s degree from the United States Naval Academy, a Master’s degree in Global History from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Family
Mikie and her husband Jason, a fellow Naval Academy graduate, live in Montclair, New Jersey, and have four children. Her eldest children are currently serving in the U.S. Navy, following in their parents’ path of service.
Affordability
In New Jersey, we pride ourselves on our quality public schools, our talented workforce, and some of the most innovative businesses in the world. But for too many families, our state is increasingly unaffordable, and it’s forced too many New Jerseyans to consider leaving home for another state. Since I was first elected, I’ve focused on making New Jersey a more affordable place for families by fighting for tax relief, lowering health care and energy costs, and cracking down on price gouging.
Take the skyrocketing cost of groceries as an example. I have met with families across New Jersey, and I have heard time and time again that the high price of groceries is a critical concern. As a mom buying food for a family of six, including two teenage boys, I get it. In Congress, I introduced a bill that would provide incentives to small food retailers, helping them compete with big corporations and lower grocery prices. As governor, I will work to create a welcoming business environment for food retailers, increasing competition throughout our state, which will directly reduce grocery bills for families.
I will continue to do more to reduce the cost of living so families can stay together right here in New Jersey. I will focus on making housing more available and more affordable, improving transparency and cutting costs in our health care sector, and expanding competition to prevent price gouging at the supermarket
Housing
New Jersey families are paying too much for housing, and for too many, the dream of home ownership is getting further and further out of reach. This housing affordability crisis impacts millions of New Jerseyans. It means that students can’t live where they grew up after graduating from college, that seniors can’t age in place or find a home near their children and grandchildren when they retire and are ready to downsize, and that businesses choose to set up shop in other states because their workforce can’t afford to live here. For most families, home ownership is the largest investment they will make and the best opportunity they will have to build generational wealth. But our current housing crisis and high property taxes mean many families may never get that opportunity.
At the root of the problem is a severe housing shortage and a lack of supply at all levels. Since 2019, New Jersey has seen the second-largest decline in available housing inventory in the entire nation. That is not sustainable for families or our economy. We must revive New Jersey as a state that builds, leads, and innovates on housing.
As governor, I am committed to improving housing affordability by increasing new home construction that meets the needs of all residents. More housing will expand opportunities for home ownership and help drive down rental costs as supply increases. I will work with our municipalities to expand “Missing Middle” housing that both grows our supply and works for our communities. I will work to provide financing and assistance to municipalities to help them repurpose underutilized infrastructure, like converting commercial buildings into housing units. By supporting new housing and redevelopment, municipalities can boost their tax base without burdening homeowners with higher rates. I will also strengthen first-time homebuyer programs to allow more New Jerseyans to build equity in the communities where they work and crack down on landlords who illegally discriminate against families and neglect to keep their properties in livable condition. Bringing down housing costs will unlock economic growth and help families keep more of their paychecks.
Health Care Costs
New Jersey is home to a world-class health care industry, but for many families, that comes with a staggering price tag. In Congress, I helped pass federal legislation that helped dramatically lower the cost of health care for seniors, including capping the cost of insulin at $35 a month — and capping senior’s out-of-pocket prescription drug spending at $2,000 annually. New Jersey has taken the right steps, followed suit, and extended the Inflation Reduction Act’s insulin cap to GetCoveredNJ, as well as public employee benefits plans. But we must do more, and as governor, I will direct the state to identify promising avenues for patient savings on prescription drugs.
Simply receiving quality care should never break the bank. A critical piece to addressing skyrocketing costs is greater transparency in health care pricing. With all other major financial decisions, like buying a home, people know what they will be paying upfront. But in health care, patients often don’t know the price tag until they receive the bill. For patients who have the ability to shop around for affordable care in advance, increased competition will bring prices down. Keeping health care costs under control will ensure everyone in New Jersey can access the care they need without falling into medical debt.
Abortion and Reproductive Rights
The decision of if and when to start a family is one that every woman deserves to make for herself — and that’s why I have always fought for access to abortion and comprehensive reproductive health care. Since Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I’ve led the fight to protect women’s access to emergency abortion care, block efforts to ban medication abortion like mifepristone, and ensure military servicewomen have access to abortion and contraception, no matter where they are stationed. While New Jersey is a leader in reproductive freedom, I know that as governor, there is more we can do to ensure every woman has access to the reproductive health care she needs. And with Donald Trump back in the White House, we have to protect access to abortion rights here in New Jersey.
I strongly support enshrining the right to an abortion in New Jersey’s state constitution to permanently protect reproductive freedom. Despite laws in place to protect access to care, too often women in New Jersey face additional barriers in getting care. New Jersey must take action to require comprehensive insurance coverage for all reproductive health care services, including abortion. I will continue our work expanding access to contraception and IVF services so that every New Jerseyan has affordable access to the family planning services they need. We will be the first line of defense in protecting reproductive rights.
Early Childhood
Access to quality child care is a lifeline for families and strengthens our economy, but far too many parents either can’t find care, or even when it is available, can’t afford it. Some parents have to make the impossible choice of enrolling their child in a program that doesn’t fit their budget or leaving their job to care for them. This issue is personal to me as a mother of four — I remember when I was looking for child care and had to make that decision. I will work to bring down the cost of child care for families and allow parents the ability to rejoin the workforce or take on more hours at work, strengthening their family’s financial security.
In Congress, I’ve tackled this issue head-on. I introduced legislation — modeled after the military and Head Start — that would cap a family’s out-of-pocket costs for child care at 7 percent of their income and bolster the early childhood education workforce to ensure that every family can find and afford high-quality child care. I helped pass legislation that expanded the federal child tax credit, which lifted nearly three million children out of poverty. As governor, I will expand New Jersey’s child tax credit, which would reduce child poverty and help families afford child care — or anything else their family needs.
Our local businesses feel the significant strain when their employees can’t find reliable child care. I will work with New Jersey employers to establish support programs that enable them to offer the child care options their employees need. Affordable child care isn’t just necessary for parents — it’s essential for employers and New Jersey’s economy.
Education
New Jersey has some of the best public schools in the country. But this isn’t true of every zip code, where we continue to see large disparities in educational opportunities — which leaves talent on the table despite efforts to close the achievement gap. A strong foundation starts with making early childhood education, pre-K, and kindergarten affordable and available in every corner of the state.
Across New Jersey, students in every district continue to face post-pandemic struggles with mental health and learning loss. That’s why I fought to bring back federal funding to safely reopen schools and get kids back on track, including by introducing legislation to provide high-quality tutoring to students. As governor, we’ll expand on this progress by supporting effective programs — like high-impact tutoring — that address learning loss. We’ll address the mental health crisis by increasing the number of school counselors, psychologists, and mental health services in our schools. And as a mom of four, I know that kids learn better when their stomachs are full. I will make school meals available at no cost for every student in New Jersey because we know good nutrition is essential to academic achievement.
As our students graduate high school and move on to college or their careers, we can better prepare them by creating stronger pathways between schools and the workforce. This includes offering more apprenticeships, working closely with employers and colleges, and expanding job training programs. Our union apprenticeship and job training programs turn out some of the best trades workers in the country, and we need to make sure they have what they need to empower the next generation of the high-skilled workforce. A high-quality education opens doors and provides New Jerseyans with the opportunity to forge their own path to success.
Transportation
In New Jersey, transportation isn’t just a policy — it’s the backbone of our state. And right now, it’s causing headaches for far too many of our neighbors.
New Jersey commuters and families, including my own, have faced unacceptable delays, congestion, and service breakdowns on our transportation system that we rely on every day. Too many commuters have had the frustrating experience of waiting for a train or bus that never comes or arrives too late — leading to missed shifts, family occasions, and their kids’ events. And on our highways, our patience is tested daily as we sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
New Jersey needs affordable, accessible public transportation that our families and commuters can rely on. As governor, I will tackle congestion and our aging infrastructure by investing in mass transit while maintaining and upgrading our roads and rails.
I have been a tireless advocate for improved service along the Northeast Corridor by demanding accountability from the federal government for service breakdowns caused by neglected Amtrak equipment so that New Jersey commuters don’t keep suffering from another “Summer from Hell” year after year.
Since I arrived in Congress, I have been a staunch advocate for the Gateway Project to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River — I’ve even been referred to as the “Tunnel Obsessed Congresswoman.” I successfully fought to bring our tax dollars back to New Jersey to fund the largest federal transit investment in U.S. history. This project will double train capacity between New Jersey and New York and create thousands of good-paying union jobs.
Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I brought back billions of federal dollars to repair New Jersey’s aging roads and bridges, and as governor, I’ll continue to make investments and improvements a top priority.
For every one dollar spent on infrastructure, we generate five dollars in economic activity. That is a great return on investment and an economic driver for our state and region. The Northeast Corridor rail line touches 20 percent of the entire U.S. economy and goods from the Port of New York and New Jersey can reach about 50 percent of Americans within 36 hours. We cannot allow our infrastructure to hold back this economic engine, and greater access to this transit network will create key pathways to the middle class for New Jersey families.
I will work with federal partners and New York to keep the Gateway Projects funded and on schedule and secure other investments that improve service and reliability. And NJ TRANSIT must have a customer-focused mindset, improving its communication with riders and making investments that create a better experience that gets people to work on time. A reliable, convenient, affordable, and accessible transit system is vital for New Jersey, will connect people to opportunity, and drive the innovation economy.
Energy Costs and the Environment
As governor, I will take bold action to drive down energy costs and utility bills, protect our communities and ecosystems, build climate-resilient infrastructure, and reduce our carbon emissions. Utility costs are out of control in New Jersey. Families are spending almost their entire budget just to pay the electric bill this summer. It’s time for action, because people just can’t wait any longer.
So on Day One as New Jersey’s next governor, I’m going to declare a State of Emergency on Utility Costs and freeze your utility rates, massively build out cheaper and cleaner power generation, and require more transparency from our utility companies, including PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric, and Rockland Electric and our grid operator PJM. Prices are spiking because of a huge power shortage — I’ll transform New Jersey’s energy picture to build new, cheaper, and cleaner energy generation, bring down families’ bills, and put the Garden State on track to hit our emissions and clean air goals.
In addition to rapidly building out cleaner and cheaper energy generation, we need urgent action to mitigate flooding, remediate brownfields, clean up Superfund sites, and remove lead and forever chemicals from our drinking water. In Congress, I’ve fought for and successfully brought back millions of dollars to New Jersey to make our communities more flood resilient, replace lead service lines and water infrastructure, and take on environmental pollution. I am proud to have led passage of the Great American Outdoors Act to protect New Jersey’s open spaces, including the Delaware Water Gap, the Great Swamp, and Sandy Hook. As governor, I will incentivize brownfields redevelopment to protect our environment and open up economic and housing opportunities.
Addressing our environmental needs, lowering our energy costs, and making our energy grid cleaner don’t have to be in tension. As governor, I’m going to build a more prosperous, more affordable, and cleaner New Jersey.
Public Safety and Justice
All New Jerseyans have a fundamental right to grow up and live in a safe community. But for too many families, crime has become an all too familiar concern. As governor, I will be squarely focused on keeping our towns and cities safe.
As a mom of four, I know the toll that the threat of gun violence continues to have on our kids and our communities. New Jersey has the seventh strongest gun laws in the nation and as a direct result of these policies, we have the fourth-lowest firearm death rate. I am committed to building on this success by expanding law enforcement efforts to take illegal guns off of our streets, preventing violent criminals from legally purchasing firearms, and enhancing requirements for the safe storage of firearms particularly in places where children are present.
While serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I saw firsthand how developing trust between law enforcement and the communities that they serve, funding smart policing strategies, and investing in evidence-based public services were essential to combating violence and reducing crime. In Congress, I introduced the SAFE NJ package to implement these strategies at the federal level — funding law enforcement initiatives to prevent auto theft, investing in jobs programs for young people, and expanding access to mental health and substance abuse treatment. As governor, I am committed to enacting these evidence-based programs in New Jersey and expanding innovative and proven programs like ARRIVE Together that prioritize mental health services and treatment while reducing use of force.
We must also make sure that police officers have the support and resources they need to be successful. From updating 911 infrastructure to funding license plate readers to combat car theft, in Congress, I have worked closely with law enforcement leaders to provide our police departments the tools that officers require to serve our communities and keep us safe. And I will continue to do just that as governor.
It is also critical that we invest in comprehensive reentry services for individuals in the criminal justice system. A conviction isn’t a life sentence, but we know that recidivism rates are too high. To meaningfully address this, we must ensure that individuals gain real skills, and we must strengthen mental health care and treatment while incarcerated so that they have real educational, housing, and employment opportunities when they reenter our communities. As governor, I want individuals returning to their communities to set positive examples of what it means to not be defined by our worst mistakes. The residents of this state deserve a governor who will prioritize their safety and ensure access to justice for every New Jerseyan.
Innovation and Technology
New Jersey is home to some of the most innovative and competitive companies in the world, drawn by the Garden State’s best-in-the-nation public education system and skilled workforce. New Jersey has historically been at the center of the nation’s innovation economy, but our state is not doing enough to give small businesses the tools to succeed and grow.
I will make state government work better for New Jerseyans by modernizing state agencies and cutting through bureaucracy to save families and businesses time and money, lower costs to taxpayers, and drive our economy forward. To do this, I’ve introduced a plan to cut business and professional license wait times, eliminate business registration fees, reduce delays in the permitting process, and turbocharge the Business Action Center to drive small business success. I’ll reprioritize customer service and hold agencies accountable to transparent, timely, and efficient processes and deadlines.
Additionally, I am committed to making our state the leader in advanced technology research, development, and application once again. New technologies — such as artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and quantum computing — will determine the landscape of the 21st-century global economy, driving economic growth and job creation. In New Jersey, we need to make sure our state takes advantage of this opportunity. As governor, I will modernize and streamline how our state agencies engage with these sectors, and adopt a whole-of-government strategy to support entrepreneurs, develop our startup community, and build out clean energy generation and transmission to boost new technology development and drive affordability for ratepayers.
We also need to protect communities and families from bad actors who seek to exploit new technologies, like AI and deepfakes, to harass school-aged children or scam seniors. Keeping kids safe online is one of my top priorities, and I’ve proudly led the fight in Congress to protect against the use of deepfakes to bully kids in school like we saw right here in New Jersey last year. I will work with the legislature to ensure that New Jersey’s data privacy, harassment, and fraud laws are modernized to crack down on these bad actors and deter them from targeting New Jerseyans.
Working Families & Labor
Like so many New Jerseyans, unions played a vital role in my family reaching the middle class – my grandfather’s UAW job helped him provide incredible opportunities for his children. I wouldn’t be here today without the economic security that unions secured for my family, and New Jersey’s middle class wouldn’t be here without their tireless organizing.
I will be a governor who puts working families’ interests first and always stands up for workers’ organizing and collective bargaining rights. As a Member of Congress, I have joined the picket line and strongly advocated for the fair wages and benefits that workers deserve. In Trenton, I will be committed to giving labor leaders and workers a seat at the table when major decisions are made. I will appoint a strong Commissioner of Labor and Attorney General who will rigorously enforce wage and hour laws and crack down on employers that break Project Labor Agreements and violate New Jerseyans’ labor rights.
As governor, I will also drive investments in sectors like housing, public transit, and energy that create thousands of good-paying union jobs. I will ensure that these state projects involve our unions and include explicit protections for workers to ensure that they are paid good wages and benefits. I will also protect and expand workers’ collective bargaining rights to ensure that they can bargain on wages, benefits, and contracts.
In Trenton, I am also committed to working with labor leaders and workers to drive down healthcare costs through third-party audits of State Health Benefits Plan claims and expanded transparency within healthcare pricing. And I am committed to fully funding our pension system to guarantee that working families can retire with security and dignity. As part of this commitment, I will work to increase the pension’s funded ratio so that retirees can again see cost-of-living adjustments.
I don’t just talk about the importance of labor unions and bargaining rights – I have a track record of delivering real results. I led the fight to get construction underway for the Gateway Tunnel, supporting 95,000 good-paying jobs. I have secured federal funding to replace lead service lines and mitigate the impacts of flooding using union labor. I’ve also stood with workers – from nurses to journalists – as they negotiated for better wages and benefits and have led advocacy in support of their organizing rights. I will be a governor who doesn’t just admire problems or watch from the sidelines – I will fight hard for working families every day.
Transparency and Accountability
New Jersey families work hard for every dollar they earn. But when those dollars are sent to Trenton, taxpayers are all too often left in the dark about how their money is being spent. This lack of transparency weakens public trust and allows waste and inefficiency to go unchecked. Families are expected to manage their household budgets responsibly. It is only fair to demand that the government should do the same.
That’s why, as governor, I’ll launch a first-of-its-kind online “Report Card” where New Jerseyans can track state contracts and grants in plain language. You’ll see where the money goes, what it’s supposed to deliver, and whether it actually does.
The Report Card will provide key information on state programs — what they cost and what they do. State contracts will be posted online, with plain-language updates on whether taxpayers received what they paid for. Just as importantly, this plan will measure outcomes — not just dollars spent. It is time for programs to be evaluated to determine if they actually deliver results for New Jersey families.
This plan has one goal: to make Trenton answer to the people who pay the bills. It builds trust, cuts waste, and makes clear that every dollar must be spent wisely, saving money for taxpayers.
Transparency & Accountability
New Jersey families want to know where their hard-earned tax dollars are going and how that spending is actually impacting their communities. I’ll make sure that happens when I’m governor, because I learned in the Navy that accountability is critical — no excuses, no exceptions. I’ll publish a “New Jersey Report Card” that breaks down the programs and contracts that the state is funding in plain language and measures the results of those state initiatives, not just the dollars spent. Together, we’ll make Trenton transparent and accountable to New Jersey families.
Introduction
New Jersey families work hard for every dollar they earn. But when those dollars are sent to Trenton, taxpayers are all too often left in the dark about how their money is being spent. The state government spends billions every year, and taxpayers have too little information about where those funds go. The process is complicated, and unless you are an insider, it can be nearly impossible to follow.
This lack of transparency weakens public trust and allows waste and inefficiency to go unchecked. At the same time, New Jerseyans struggle with high property taxes, decaying infrastructure, and growing frustration with the way government works. Families are expected to manage their household budgets responsibly. It is only fair to demand that the government should do the same.
That’s why, as governor, I’ll launch a first-of-its-kind online “Report Card” where New Jerseyans can track state contracts and grants in plain language. No more hiding the ball. You’ll see where the money goes, what it’s supposed to deliver, and whether it actually does.
The Report Card will provide key information on state programs — what they cost and what they do. State contracts will be posted online, with plain-language updates on whether taxpayers got what they paid for.
Just as importantly, this plan will measure outcomes — not just dollars spent. It is time for programs to be evaluated to determine if they actually deliver results for New Jersey families. This new standard of evaluation and accountability will help ensure that taxpayer-funded programs meet their goals, and will assist policymakers in Trenton in strengthening or reforming these programs so New Jersey gets the best possible return on taxpayers’ dollars.
This plan has one goal: to make Trenton answer to the people who pay the bills. It builds trust by opening the books, it cuts out waste so we can fund critical priorities like property tax relief, transportation infrastructure, and schools, and it makes clear that taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely.
Enough is enough — government should answer for taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars, and New Jerseyans deserve to see the results.
Pillar 1: The New Jersey Report Card
As governor, I will launch the New Jersey Report Card — a first-of-its-kind public platform that makes state spending transparent, accessible, and accountable.
The Report Card will feature an easy-to-use online portal that shows the payments, contracts, and programs funded by the state government, with comprehensive information on who is receiving funding, for what purpose, and on what timeline. Residents will be able to track where their taxpayer dollars are going, how the funding levels of certain programs have changed over time, and the drivers of long-term trends in the state budget and spending.
This platform will consolidate and expand upon what the State currently offers online, and puts the power in your hands. You will be able to see the budget items and contracts that are being funded, track the results of that funding in terms of new programs and projects, understand the costs behind each budget line and how the final program costs compare to initial projections, and grade the government in Trenton. Because New Jersey families deserve a state that delivers accountability, transparency, and fiscal discipline. It’s your government, and it should work for you.
Agencies will be required to update the Report Card to show when a program receives funding in the budget, begins to operate on the ground, and demonstrates results that matter to families. You will be able to see who got paid, for what purpose, at what cost, and what results were achieved, which will allow New Jerseyans to hold the state accountable. All of this information will be presented in plain language, eliminating confusing bureaucratic jargon and making government data accessible to everyone.
Programs that have been active for more than a year will include clear explanations for any increases or decreases in spending. This will empower families to judge whether state programs are truly delivering value for their money.
The New Jersey Report Card will also include common-sense protections for privacy and security to ensure that sensitive information isn’t being shared.
Pillar 2: Measuring Outcomes, Not Just Money Spent
Beyond simply showing where money goes, we will take a hard look at what that funding actually achieves and how cost-effectively it does so. For programs and contracts funded by the state, the Report Card will display their costs to taxpayers and provide evidence-based information on what they deliver for New Jersey communities.
The focus will be on rigorously evaluating the impacts and returns on investment of state-funded programs and providing this information to residents in a transparent manner. New Jerseyans have the right to know whether their tax dollars are producing real results—whether it’s improving schools, fixing roads, or making our communities safer.
As governor, I will require state agencies to evaluate the programs that they operate to the greatest extent feasible, to identify whether funded programs are actually meeting the goals set by lawmakers and the public. This approach will help us to prioritize certain programs that have demonstrated results and identify ways to reform others that aren’t producing the desired outcomes. We will strengthen programs that are effective and restructure or get rid of those that aren’t meeting expectations.
Pillar 3: Plain-Language Budget That’s Accessible to Residents
Every year, the governor proposes a budget and then the Legislature adds revisions and amendments before sending it back for a final signature. The Report Card will include a plain-language, interactive version of the budget that will allow residents to see what the governor proposed, the changes made by the Legislature, and what was ultimately signed into law. These plain-language budgets will clearly show where the money comes from — including taxes, fees, and other revenue — and how it is spent, broken down by program, department, and initiative.
This plain-language budget will also highlight trends in spending over time, and interactive charts and summaries will make it easy for New Jerseyans to understand how state revenue and spending have changed in recent years. Through this tool, for example, you will be able to see how spending has changed over a governor’s tenure and what programs accounted for those changes, which will allow you to hold our elected leaders accountable.
Pillar 4: Transparency on State Contracts
In addition to the Report Card’s breakdown of the state budget and program outcomes, state contracts will also be fully transparent. Contracts will be posted online, detailing in plain, simple language who won the contract, its total cost, and what the state is expected to receive in return. And most importantly, they will be assessed to see if the contracts actually delivered for New Jersey.
Although basic contracting information is available, it is sorely lacking. The Report Card goes beyond what is currently offered and will enable residents to see who is winning contracts with the state, along with their track records for delivering services on time and at cost. This will increase accountability among contractors and the state agencies that award these contracts, leading to a more cost-effective use of state funds and better outcomes for New Jerseyans.
Conclusion
As governor, I will ensure that the public knows exactly where their taxpayer dollars are going and how effectively state-funded programs and contracts are actually delivering for residents. The New Jersey Report Card will build trust by providing residents with a clear view of how their tax dollars are spent. It will also expose inefficiency and waste, allowing us to redirect funds to higher, more cost-effective priorities such as property tax relief, infrastructure, and public schools. And finally, it will foster a culture of accountability in Trenton, making clear that every dollar is expected to yield results.
My plan will not require new layers of government, only a commitment to openness. The technology exists today to deliver real-time data in clear, user-friendly formats. The only thing that has caused delays is a lack of political will. As governor, I will provide that leadership and bring transparency and accountability to the way Trenton spends taxpayers’ money. Because New Jerseyans deserve a government that works as hard as they do.
Current Mission
As Donald Trump and Elon Musk threaten New Jerseyans, Mikie is fighting back against the cruelty and destruction coming out of Washington and defending the programs that working people rely on, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and our schools.