New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill has now turned the disclosure of her slightly redacted military records into a focal point of her campaign, taking direct shots at both the Trump administration and her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli.
In a recently released attack advertisement, the congresswoman accused the Trump administration of unlawfully leaking her private records and criticized Ciattarelli for failing to return them. This new campaign effort comes in response to various polls indicating she has experienced a considerable drop in support and finds herself potentially neck-and-neck with Ciattarelli.
“This is not merely a scandal; it is a crime,” a narrator proclaims in the advertisement. “The Trump administration unlawfully released respected Navy helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill’s confidential military records to Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign, records that contained her Social Security number and even the home address of her retired parents.”
“Jack’s campaign distributed these records regardless, violating the law,” the narrator continued. “They breached legal regulations to target a veteran. Imagine what Jack Ciattarelli could do to you.”
This ad release takes place amid recent polling findings that depict a closer race than expected. The latest RealClearPolitics aggregate shows Sherrill with a slim 4.7 percentage point lead over Ciattarelli.
This is a significant decrease from the 8.3 percentage point advantage she held earlier last month.
Sherrill has narrowly outperformed Ciattarelli with 48.1% compared to his 45.8% among likely voters, which falls within the margin of error per the latest poll from Quantus Insights released Wednesday. A prior poll indicated the candidates were essentially tied.
This stark change comes amid her previously held 10-point lead as recorded in a Labor Day survey.
Recently, CBS News reported that it had obtained Sherrill’s military file, which included un-redacted sensitive information such as her life insurance details, Social Security number, and home address.
The National Archives and Records Administration had provided these files to political consultant Nicholas De Gregorio in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
In their response to CBS News queries, the National Archives stated, “The technician should NOT have published the entire record.”
The news of this record leak coincided with shocking admissions that Sherrill was barred from walking at the commencement ceremony from the Naval Academy in 1994 due to her association with the cheating scandal.
“I chose not to report some of my classmates, which is why I didn’t walk, but I graduated and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving with the utmost distinction and honor for nearly a decade,” she explained to the New Jersey Globe regarding the revelations.
Sherrill has so far refused to release the disciplinary records that could clarify the situation further.
Supporters of Ciattarelli have asserted that the National Archives documents they obtained through FOIA are unrelated to the cheating incident.
“The National Archives supplied documents following a legitimate FOIA request,” stated GOP strategist Chris Russell, an advisor to the Ciattarelli campaign, late last month.
“These documents did not pertain to the cheating scandal. The National Archives subsequently apologized to the requestor and accepted full responsibility for their mistake. Now it’s time for Rep. Sherrill to be transparent and authorize the release of all her records.”
On Tuesday, the Inspector General for the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration confirmed it has initiated an investigation concerning the release of Sherrill’s sensitive military documents.
