Noticias

North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco is considering a public endorsement of Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the New Jersey governor’s race, the New Jersey Globe has learned.

Two key Sacco lieutenants, North Bergen Commissioners Anthony Vainieri, Jr. and Allan Pascual, met with Ciattarelli and Hudson County GOP Chairman Jose Arango at Roberto’s Ristorante in Edgewater nearly two weeks ago to discuss support from Sacco.  Ciattarelli has also met with other high-level Hudson County political leaders, including Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis, the Democratic nominee for sheriff; incumbent Sheriff Frank Schillari, whom Davis beat in the June Democratic primary, endorsed Ciattarelli over the summer.

Pascual, a Republican, is expected to support Ciattarelli. Vainieri, a former county commissioner and Hudson County Democratic chairman, supported Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Another commissioner, Hugo Cabrera, is planning to endorse Democrat Mikie Sherrill, even if Sacco supports Ciattarelli, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.

North Bergen has been a Democratic stronghold for decades, except for flirtations with Ronald Reagan and Tom Kean in the 1980s.  Gov. Phil Murphy won the town by 45 percentage points against Ciattarelli in 2021, but in 2024, Donald Trump came within six points and 1,332 votes of carrying North Bergen.

The potential defection of Sacco, a lifelong Democrat who has held local office in North Bergen since 1985, is connected to a feud with a more powerful local political leader, State Sen. Brian P. Stack, the mayor of Union City and a supporter of Rep. Mikie Sherrill for governor.

Sacco had served in the State Senate for thirty years but was forced to leave the Senate four years ago after legislative redistricting in 2022 placed him in the same district as Stack, a GOTV wunderkind.

What escalated a warette into a war was the decision to hire YouTube agitator Leonard Filipowski, aka LeRoy Truth, to harass Stack and his family.  There is now evidence linking Filipowski to Sacco.

The flirtation with Ciattarelli underscores the possible battle to succeed Sacco, 78, if he doesn’t seek re-election in the May 2027 non-partisan municipal election.  Vainieri and Cabrera are fighting over who is Sacco’s rightful heir.  Also in the mayoral mix is businessman Larry Wainstein, who challenged Sacco in 2015, 2019, and 2023; Wainstein is now allied with Stack and is a sure thing to win the election to the State Assembly in November.

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A non-profit education group released a survey Thursday showing Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) leading Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the race for governor, 48%-41%.

The poll, from a group named “yes. every kid.,” found unaffiliated voters split 39%-39% between Sherrill and Ciattarelli. 10% of voters remained undecided.

Recent polls, including an Emerson poll and a Ciattarelli campaign internal, have shown an incredibly tight race between the pair. This poll’s results are closer to the results from prior weeks, which found Sherrill with a 7- to 10-point lead.

The poll also found majorities of likely voters support establishing a refundable tax credit for education expenses and open enrollment in the state’s schools.

“New Jersey’s next governor has a real opportunity to lead on expanding options for families to curate their children’s educational experiences. yes. every kid.’s poll shows that voters want more education freedom,” said Erica Jedynak, the group’s CEO.

The New Jersey Globe reviewed the full poll.

The yes. every kid. poll was conducted Sept. 20-22 with a sample of 704 likely votes and a margin of error of +/-3.7%. 

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Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, was barred from walking with her class at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994 as a punishment connected to the massive cheating scandal that implicated over 130 midshipmen in her class.

A copy of the commencement program from May 25, 1994, obtained by the New Jersey Globe, does not include Sherrill’s name.  Sherrill said that her absence from the ceremony was a consequence of failing to report classmates who had been involved in the scandal.

“I didn’t turn in some of my classmates, so I didn’t walk, but graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving for nearly ten years with the highest level of distinction and honor,” Sherrill said.  

However, the Sherrill campaign rejected a request that she permit public inspection of any disciplinary records from her time at the academy.  Only Sherrill could authorize the release of those sealed records.

Sherrill has made her military service as a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and helicopter pilot the centerpiece of her political identity, but has never publicly discussed her class’s cheating controversy in stump speeches or interviews.  There were rumors that she was tied to the scandal in 2018 when she sought to flip a House seat in New Jersey’s 11th district, but it was suggested to the New Jersey Globe at the time that Sherrill was not involved.

The scandal revolved around electrical engineering exam answers that some midshipmen obtained and shared with their classmates in December 1992.  Two dozen of Sherrill’s classmates were expelled, and one of those involved said in 2002 that he thought more than 400 out of the 663 midshipmen who took the exam had seen copies of it in advance.

The events struck at the heart of Annapolis’s honor code, sparking congressional hearings and internal investigation; the resignation of Rear Adm. Thomas C. Lynch, the superintendent at Annapolis; and widespread debate over whether the institution had been too lenient in past cases of misconduct. The academy subsequently undertook significant reforms to strengthen its academic integrity system and restore public trust.

There was no interruption in Sherrill’s military service as a result of the scandal: she was assigned to Annapolis for 254 days after graduation as she awaited a spot to open up for her at the Navy flight school in Pensacola, Florida.  

Sherrill went on to serve in the Navy for nine years and had been recommended for promotion to the rank of lieutenant commander before her retirement in 2003.  The U.S. Naval Academy website lists Sherrill as a notable graduate.   She received the Navy Achievement Medal for saving the life of a fellow shipmate while at the academy, and the prestigious Distinguished Public Service Award in 2024 – the Navy’s highest civilian honor.

The news comes amid a tightening of the New Jersey governor’s race.  Sherrill had been ahead in every poll since the primary, but an Emerson College Polling/PIX 11/The Hill survey released today shows her tied with Republican Jack Ciattarelli at 43% each.

Sherrill pushed back on the relevance of the scandal to her gubernatorial campaign.

“Jack continues to try and use any avenue he can to execute the MAGA playbook of smearing military service,” she said.  “Now, his latest attempt is to go after a 30-year-old widely reported incident when I was an undergraduate at the Naval Academy.”

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