A scandal is brewing in New Jersey, and it could turn the tide for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli. Mikie Sherrill, the Democrat in the race, has been exposed for helping cover up a cheating scandal back during her time in the military, and let’s just say that her response is less than ideal. 

According to RedState, Sherrill broke regulations during her time at the Naval Academy when she failed to alert officials that multiple students had gotten and shared answers to an engineering exam. Her punishment included being barred from the graduation ceremony. 

SEE: Mikie Sherrill Was Banned From Graduation for Cheating Scandal 

When something like that becomes public, the right response is to apologize, note you’ve grown since then, and not play into your opponent’s hands. Sherrill didn’t do that, instead opting to whine that her “private” information is being “weaponized” against her. 

If @Jack4NJ is weaponizing illegally leaked documents as a candidate, just imagine what he would do as governor with New Jerseyans’ personal data. pic.twitter.com/pJnGzwqvOk

— Mikie Sherrill (@MikieSherrill) September 26, 2025

SHERRILL: People who serve this country, at a minimum, should know that their information is being kept private by the government, and I think it really begs the question too, if you Jack Ciattarelli do this when he’s desperate running for office, what will he do with information of the people of New Jersey, if he had power over the documents that the state has of people across this state, there’s no indication hat he would protect those. There’s every indication that he would continue this program of weaponizing against any opponents that he has. 

The first thing to point out is that Ciattarelli has nothing to do with these documents leaking. Sherrill is dishonestly painting him as responsible when he has no mechanism, being outside the federal government, to release information about her. He’s simply using what is out there, and for her to pretend she’d do any differently is insulting at best. I know politicians like to virtue-signal, but come on. This is politics, not a pillow fight. 

Still, none of Sherrill’s crying covers for the fact that she did cover up a cheating scandal and had every intention of hiding that from voters. So, as much as she wants to claim this paints Ciattarelli in a bad light, how does it not paint her in an awful light? New Jersey voters deserve to know their governor isn’t a dishonest hack, and it’s Sherrill who has been exposed as that in light of this revelation. 

This race is not supposed to be close. It’s New Jersey after all, one of the most corrupt Democrat states in the country. Yet, Ciattrelli is hanging close after coming shockingly close to winning this same race four years ago. Sherrill is your typical Democrat, and running to MSNBC to get a pat on the head isn’t going to help her with undecided voters. This is one to keep a close eye on as election day nears.