Dem Mikie Sherrill wins open-seat NJ House race

Former Navy helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill (D) is projected to win New Jersey’s 11th District, flipping an open seat represented by a powerful GOP committee chairman for more than two decades.

Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor, defeated Republican state Assemblyman Jay Webber in the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who is chairman of the influential Appropriations Committee.

Frelinghuysen’s district is one of a number of New Jersey seats that Democrats have targeted in their efforts to regain the House majority. President Trump won the affluent and well-educated district not far from New York City by a little less than a point in 2016.

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Webber went all-in with Trump, who had tweeted an endorsement of the assemblyman. While most Republicans in competitive races in New Jersey kept distance from the GOP’s tax law, Webber said he would have voted for it, but opposed the state and local tax deductions cap.

Sherrill, who was heralded as a top Democratic recruit, hammered Webber for supporting the law and like many Democrats, focused her message on health care.