Politics

Democrat In NJ Gov Race Blocked From Graduation Ceremony Amid Naval Academy Cheating Probe

US Department of Labor, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor was prohibited from walking in her 1994 Naval Academy graduation ceremony after a massive exam cheating scandal, the New Jersey Globe reported Thursday.

Democratic New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who is her party’s nominee for governor of New Jersey, told the Globe that she was barred from the commencement ceremony because she failed to turn in some of her classmates who participated in the 1994 U.S. Naval Academy cheating scandal. A copy of the commencement program for the 1994 school year did not include Sherrill’s name, according to the Globe.

Her involvement in the scandal did not significantly interrupt her career, graduating from the academy and being assigned to Annapolis shortly after. The Sherrill campaign also denied the New Jersey Globe’s request to further investigate her disciplinary records, which only she has the authority to disclose.

“Today’s admission by Congresswoman Sherrill that she was implicated in, and punished for, her involvement in the largest cheating and honor code scandal in the history of the United States Navy is both stunning and deeply disturbing,” Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli said on X regarding the globe report. “For eight years, Mikie Sherrill has built her entire political brand around her time at the Naval Academy and in the Navy, all the while concealing her involvement in the scandal and her punishment. The people of New Jersey deserve complete and total transparency.”

Ciattarelli has closed the polling gap considerably in the race, with an Emerson survey published Thursday showing the two candidates locked in a tie with 43% of the prospective vote. The survey polled 935 likely or very likely New Jersey voters between Sept. 22-23, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Sherrill often uses her Navy service record as a key aspect of her identity in the campaign, downplaying the relevance of the revelations in her statements to the Globe.

“Jack continues to try and use any avenue he can to execute the MAGA playbook of smearing military service,” the candidate told the Globe. “Now, his latest attempt is to go after a 30-year-old widely reported incident when I was an undergraduate at the Naval Academy.”

The Sherrill campaign directed the Daily Caller News Foundation to a press release condemning the release of the documents while accusing the Trump administration of illegally releasing Sherrill’s military records to someone on the Ciattarelli campaign. The campaign also directed the DCNF to a letter from congressional democrats demanding an investigation into the records’ release.

The Ciattarelli campaign did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated following a response from Sherrill’s campaign.