Jack Ciattarelli, a candidate for governor in New Jersey, along with various Republican factions, has recently criticized Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), the Democratic contender, due to a notable increase in her net worth during her time in Congress.
During a debate on Sunday, Ciattarelli remarked, “Her net worth has tripled during her years in Congress.”
On Monday, the official account of the Republican Party on X reiterated this stance, charging Sherrill with earning over “$7 MILLION from stock trades while serving in Congress.”
Following the debate, the Republican Governors Association and affiliated GOP organizations pointed out Sherrill’s hesitating replies to inquiries from radio host Charlamagne tha God regarding her dramatic increase in net worth.
When pressed about her reported $7 million profit from stock trading, Sherrill responded, “I, I haven’t, I don’t believe I did, but I’d have to go see what that was alluding to,” while she added, “I, I, uh, also don’t trade individual stocks. It’s been widely reported. I’ve, uh, my husband doesn’t trade, we don’t trade individual stocks.”
Sherrill, whose annual salary is $174,000 while serving New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District, reported assets ranging from $733,209 to $4,321,000 in her 2019 financial disclosure, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Her most recent disclosure, filed in August, indicates her and her husband’s net worth has increased to $11,321,863.
This represents a $7 million leap from the value of her assets reported in 2019.
A portion of the increase in her wealth can be attributed to her acquisition of a Washington, DC property in 2021, which she rents to her roommate, Abigail Spanberger, a former congresswoman and current Democratic gubernatorial hopeful from Virginia.
As required by law, lawmakers must disclose the estimated value of rental properties, which Sherrill’s Washington home is valued at just over $1.5 million.
Although Sherrill has disclosed multiple stock trades in her latest filings, they generally pertain to the investment compensation package of her husband.
According to organizations like Unusual Whales and Quiver Quantitative, Sherrill and her husband, Jason Hedberg, an executive at UBS, have consistently sold UBS stock since Sherrill took office in 2019.
Each of these stock transactions, which number several, involved sales ranging from $50,001 to $500,000 of UBS stock.
In 2021, Sherrill faced a $400 fine for failing to report stock sales totaling up to $350,000 within the required 45-day timeframe per the federal STOCK Act.
A spokesperson for Sherrill stated at the time, “These two transactions were the sale of vested stock earned by Rep. Sherrill’s husband as part of his employment compensation.”
Earlier in 2020, Sherrill and Hedberg liquidated their entire stock portfolio and swapped it for equivalent investments in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), designed to mitigate any potential conflict of interest, as reported by the New Jersey Globe.
This decision, while described by some as a proactive measure, has also been interpreted by others as Sherrill taking advantage of her insider position as a congresswoman.
Presently, Sherrill holds a significant lead of 8.8 percentage points over Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman, according to recent aggregates from RealClearPolitics.
An internal poll commissioned by Ciattarelli’s campaign is the only known survey showing him in the lead, at 46% to 45%.
Sherrill’s campaign did not reply to inquiries from The Post.
