As Democratic legislators discuss whether and how to change New Jersey election laws so that Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s successor in the 11th congressional district can be elected more quickly, outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy said today that he thinks some action will be taken, though he had few specifics about what that might look like.
“I suspect that would come up,” Murphy told reporters after a meeting with Sherrill earlier today. “Because we’ve got a really cumbersome process right now, and that needs to be addressed. Whether we can address it in [the] lame duck [session], I don’t know.”
Under current law, if Sherrill were to depart the House when she takes office as governor on January 20, the earliest a special primary could be held would be March 31, with a general election in early June – potentially conflicting with the state’s 2026 primary elections.
Sherrill could also resign from the House earlier and move up the schedule, but Murphy said he did not discuss that question with her today, and Sherrill said at a separate press conference that she’s still discussing the best path forward with legislative and congressional leaders.
“We’ll be working with leadership in the House, as well as our legislature here, to as smoothly as possible run the special election to get a new person in that seat,” Sherrill said.
State Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-South Brunswick) has proposed allowing Murphy to call a special election as soon as Sherrill’s victory has been certified, which could move the timeline up by two entire months. Democrats are also potentially interested in tightening up the window in which the election itself occurs; exact bill language is still in flux and could change over the course of the upcoming lame duck session.
New Jersey has already experienced two congressional vacancies over the last year and a half, when Reps. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) and Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) died in 2024; Payne’s seat was filled in a special election conducted over the course of five months, while Pascrell’s seat simply remained empty until the beginning of 2025. Murphy said today that he’d like to avoid a repeat of those difficulties with Sherrill’s seat.
“We had two tragic deaths in Bill Pascrell and Don Payne, and it was really, really hard,” Murphy said. “I think we’re fair to say, on the American scale, we’re at the far end of how hard it is, and that doesn’t seem right.”
Regardless of the schedule for the 11th district special election, the race itself is already ramping up: four Democrats and one Republican have officially launched campaigns, and many more are likely to do so soon. Sherrill could be a king- or queen-maker in the Democratic primary to succeed herself, but she said today that she’s unlikely to weigh in.
“I likely won’t be getting involved,” she said. “There are some great candidates in there.”
