Trump-Backed Gubernatorial Hopeful Hammers Democrat Mikie Sherrill on Stock Trades: ‘Tripled Her Net Worth!’

Trump-backed New Jersey gubernatorial hopeful Jack Ciattarelli went on the offense against Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) in a bruising debate Sunday night, hammering the Democrat over her stock trades controversy by borrowing an attack line used by her primary rival.

The clash came during a fiery New Jersey gubernatorial event at Rider University in Lawrenceville, in which the pair jousted over Charlie Kirk’s assassination and freedom of speech among other subjects.

Sherrill vowed to defeat her opponent in November, and Ciattarelli clapped back by painting his rival as ethically compromised, as well as by citing past stories about her

“There’s another big difference between her public service and my public service. It actually cost me money the time I put in and took away from my company. In the seven years that she’s been in Congress, she’s tripled her net worth,” Ciattarelli told the crowd.

He continued: “There’s another big difference between the two of us, okay? She broke the law. She had to pay fines for violating federal law on stock trades and stock reporting. And The New York Times reports that while you’re sitting on the House Armed Services Committee, you were trading defense stocks.”

Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot who has represented the state’s 11th District since 2019, acknowledged past lapses. In 2021, she was cited for violating the STOCK Act after failing to promptly disclose up to $350,000 in her husband’s UBS stock sales, reporting them months past the 45-day deadline.

Though her office attributed the lapse to an oversight, Sherrill became one of 48 lawmakers flagged that year for similar violations. In 2022 she proactively paid a $400 fine and emphasized that her family had already liquidated individual stocks in favor of exchange-traded funds.

Ciattarelli’s claims, however, were first pushed by Sherrill’s former primary rival Ras Baraka, a fellow Democrat who serves as Newark mayor, in a May attack ad. The ad cited reporting about Sherrill by conservative network Newsmax and The Washington Free Beacon – a point the congresswoman’s campaign took particular issue with at the time.

Sherill was also grilled on the story and how much her net worth had grown during her three congressional terms in a May episode of The Breakfast Club by host Charlamagne tha God.

https:/twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1970088090623737869

In the hours since the debate, Sherrill’s exchange with Charlamagne – which features her struggling to explain herself – has gone viral.

Polls suggest the race is tightening. A Quinnipiac survey earlier this month showed Sherrill ahead by 8 points, but Ciattarelli’s campaign released its own numbers claiming he had pulled into a one-point lead.