Gov. Sherrill toasts Democratic victories and calls for change

PRINCETON — One day after voters kicked close to two dozen Republicans out of Congress, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Democrats must improve affordability and undo the cuts President Donald Trump made to Medicaid, food assistance, and other public welfare programs.

Sherrill, a Democrat who logged nearly four terms in the House herself before New Jersey voters elected her governor last fall, met with reporters Wednesday morning outside Small World Coffee to celebrate Tuesday’s election results, which will deliver control of Congress to Democrats in January.

Her coffee stop came just a month after federal eligibility rules for Medicaid narrowed, eliminating coverage for hundreds of thousands of people. Other changes are expected to cost Medicare billions a year. Both changes were part of a bill Trump signed last year and are expected to add up to over $1 trillion in federal cuts over the next decade.

Sherrill said those cuts, coupled with other Trump policies that cripple everyday Americans’ ability to afford healthcare, gas, groceries, and more, make affordability the top mandate for the next Congress.

Still, she conceded, congressional Democrats will have “a lot of No. 1 priorities.”

Accountability also must be one of their top tasks, she said. Sherrill said Democratic leaders should schedule hearings to hold the Trump administration accountable for its corruption, as well as its policymaking that hurts American citizens and helps America’s enemies.

“It’s kind of gone maybe under some people’s radar that the president of the United States wants to illegally have people buy Russian diesel — fund Russia, who’s funding Iran, who’s killing American service members. Unacceptable, and I think the Congress of the United States will really bring that out,” Sherrill said.

Sherrill had a hand in helping Democrats dominate in Tuesday’s midterms, with her political action committee, Mission to Deliver, supporting federal and state candidates around the country. That included Cape May Mayor Zack Mullock, a Democrat whose upset of four-term Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew stunned many election observers. Sherrill headed to South Jersey twice this week, to stump for Mullock in Vineland Monday and join his victory party election night in Cape May.

“Just yesterday the New York Times had it listed as an easy pickup, an easy win for Van Drew. But we knew we could take it. The early-vote results were great,” Sherrill said Wednesday. “So it was an all-hands-on-deck effort. Everybody got involved.”

Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday largely blamed Republicans’ midterm losses on the war in Iran and its impact on gas prices. Trump was unrepentant, though, saying the war was “the only answer” to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.

Trump still has two years left in the White House, leaving some predicting gridlock during his lame-duck term. But congressional Democrats can use the leverage of the budget process to get some of their agenda passed, and the House has investigatory and subpoena authority too, Sherrill said.

Republicans should heed the lessons their drubbing offers, she added.

“Republicans have been incredibly unwilling to call Trump to account. They’ve been shockingly, egregiously in violation of their duty to the Constitution for the most part,” Sherrill said. “What they saw last night is that there is no path forward for them or for their party or for elections if they continue down this path. So I am hopeful that some of them will wake up, and if not for the country, then for their own electoral prospects, grow a spine and stand up to Trump and work with Democrats to get some of this done.”

Asked to respond, the White House referred to a message Trump posted on social media Tuesday night.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” the president wrote.